Mitsubishi May Go It Alone Without Honda or Nissan

Didn’t Mitsubishi execs play The Legend of Zelda? Don’t they know that “it’s dangerous to go alone?” Apparently not, as a new report from Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun relayed by Automotive News claims that Mitsubishi will watch the Honda/Nissan merger from the sidelines as its own, independent company.

Per this report, Mitsubishi will continue to work with both Honda and Nissan—to what capacity is still unknown—however, as a standalone automaker. While Nissan still owns a decent chunk of Mitsubishi, it appears to be allowing the smaller manufacturer to decide its own fate. Last we heard from Mitsubishi CEO Takao Kato, the brand was mulling over details of the union and expecting to make an announcement about its future by the end of January.

When asked for comment by The Drive, a Mitsubishi spokesperson responded with the following statement: “There was a media report from the Yomiuri Shimbun on Mitsubishi Motor’s direction regarding the possible participation or involvement in the business integration between Nissan and Honda. We would like to state that such information was not released by Mitsubishi Motors. At this moment, we are studying various options, and no conclusion has been reached. We will inform you, at the appropriate time, if there is any information to be conveyed.”

Kato seemed hesitant about joining forces with the other two brands earlier this month at the Tokyo Auto Salon. The chief executive reportedly agreed that such a merger would be good for competition, but wasn’t necessarily sure that Mitsubishi would benefit from being involved. “Therefore, at this stage, we are not in the position to say we are going to take proactive action,” Kato said, per Automotive News. “I don’t think we can necessarily say that management integration is a given.”

That doesn’t sound very enthusiastic. If Mitsubishi planned on joining in the throuple, you’d imagine Kato would have more positive things to say. Perhaps he’s just playing his cards close to his vest.

Nissan still owns 24% of Mitsubishi, after the latter bought back 10% of its own shares in November. Either Mitsubishi’s automotive division or its parent company, Mitsubishi Corp., could buy the rest from Nissan if they don’t want to be involved in the merger. Should that happen, Nissan could put to rest one of the two headaches it’s been facing through this whole ordeal. The other is how it will extricate itself from Renault, but that remains to be seen.

We likely won’t know what Mitsubishi’s plans are until its February 3 earnings meeting. If Mitsubishi does decide to fend for itself, hopefully it can find a nice cave-dwelling elderly fellow to give it a sword.

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