At a media roundtable during CES, a Honda executive proposed that a merger with Nissan might result in Honda expanding into the full-size vehicle segment. Full-size SUVs like the Nissan Armada are longer than Honda’s largest car, the Pilot mid-size SUV, which is only about nine inches shorter. Honda proposed that the two companies might collaborate on the development of future full-size vehicles or that Honda could utilize existing full-size Nissan models, though nothing has been confirmed. Honda and Nissan said at the end of last year that they had signed an agreement to join. The deal is expected to go through in August 2026. After Nissan’s money problems in the second half of 2024, the two automakers would join together under a single parent company. There are still a lot of questions about how the merger will affect Honda and Nissan products in the future. However, at a CES media roundtable today, Honda executives talked about some possible places where the two companies could work together. Noriya Kaihara, who is a director and senior vice president at Honda Motor Company, gave the opening remarks. “We’re still figuring out how to move forward with Nissan,” he said. “For now, especially in the U.S. market, Nissan has a large selection of vehicles that we don’t have.” Kaihara is probably talking about cars that are a lot bigger than the Honda Pilot, which is the company’s biggest model now sold in the U.S. Examples include the Nissan Armada and the pricier Infiniti QX80. “If we could potentially exchange some of the vehicles, it would also benefit us in the short term,” Kaihara said. Nissan and Honda are ready to work together on future versions of full-size models and may also be open to making changes to existing models for Honda’s lineup. “Maybe in the future, we can co-develop those vehicles,” he said. “In the near term, if needed, we can supply some Nissan vehicles to Honda,” Kaihara explained. “The key point is that the Honda brand remains uniquely Honda; we are not combining the Nissan brand with Honda.” No decisions have been finalized yet. Honda thinks that the partnership with Nissan will help the long-term growth of its operating system. Honda announced today that beginning in 2026, its 0 Series EVs will feature its proprietary operating system, ASIMO OS. “This would significantly affect us financially,” Kaihara stated, adding, “Collaborating with Nissan could allow us to share [development costs].” This fits with a partnership that Honda and Nissan talked about in March 2024. The partnership was supposed to focus on software for cars and parts for electric cars. There are still a lot of unknowns about the Honda-Nissan partnership, but they should become clearer by 2025.
