A group of prominent Japanese political and business figures is reportedly working to get Tesla to invest in Nissan, but the American giant’s CEO doesn’t appear interested.
The Financial Times reports the proposal is being led by a “high-level Japanese group” that includes former Japanese prime minister Yoshihide Suga and former Tesla board member Hiro Mizuno.
The outlet reports several board members at Nissan are “aware of the initiative”.
The group is reportedly trying to court Tesla as a strategic investor as it believes the electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer will want to acquire Nissan’s US plants.
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It is reportedly aiming for Tesla to be the largest backer among a consortium of investors, which could include the possibility of a minority investment by contract electronics manufacturer Foxconn, which said recently it had talks about acquiring a stake in the firm.
Shortly after The Financial Times’ article was shared on X, Tesla CEO Elon Musk appeared to shoot down the idea.
“The Tesla factory IS the product,” said Mr Musk on the social media platform he owns.
“The Cybercab production line is like nothing else in the automotive industry.”
That suggests he doesn’t want to invest in Nissan to acquire its three US plants, located in Canton, Mississippi and Smyrna and Decherd in Tennessee. These produce the Nissan Rogue (aka X-Trail), Pathfinder, Murano, Leaf and Frontier, as well as the Infiniti QX60.
All three, like Tesla’s US plants, are non-union facilities.
They’ve also been running under-capacity. Combined, they can produce around a million vehicles annually, but only 525,000 vehicles rolled off the factory lines in 2024.
That has led Nissan to cut shifts as part of its restructuring process.
The Financial Times reports Nissan in recent weeks has been searching for a strategic partner in the tech industry, with Tesla and Apple suggested as ideal targets, after a proposed merger with Honda fell apart.
Nissan and the Japanese government are also reportedly trying to avoid a scenario where Foxconn buys a significant stake in the carmaker, as the Taiwanese supplier to the likes of Apple is seen as being too close to China.
Earlier this month, The Financial Times reported Honda would still consider merging with Nissan if its CEO, Makoto Uchida, resigns.
Uchida-san is reportedly facing pressure from his own board as well as partner Renault after merger negotiations broke down.
Earlier this month, Uchida-san announced Nissan’s quarterly financial results, and spoke of the carmaker’s future following the breakdown in Honda negotiations.
“Can we continue to survive as a standalone company?” Mr Uchida told reporters.
“We’ve been discussing that for some time now. This is a big subject matter. Without taboo, we have to explore all options.”
The proposed merger between Nissan, Honda and Mitsubishi spectacularly fell apart just a couple of months after the firms signed a memorandum of understanding in December 2024 to merge by mid-2026.
Nissan was reportedly unhappy with Honda’s request for it to become a subsidiary, instead expecting to be treated as an equal in the partnership.
This was despite experts seeing Nissan as bringing less to the table for the partnership, due to its financial hardships and shrinking market share in key regions.
Nissan also reportedly bristled at being told by Honda to ditch its e-Power hybrid technology.
Meanwhile, Honda was reportedly frustrated with the speed of Nissan’s restructuring as well as the depth of its financial troubles, but was keen to get involved with Mitsubishi due to the latter’s strengths in Southeast Asia and with plug-in hybrid technology.
Mitsubishi Motors CEO Takao Kato, however, reportedly told a meeting of Mitsubishi Corporation executives that he “really didn’t want to appear” at the press conference announcing the proposed merger.
Prior to the merger falling apart, unnamed Mitsubishi sources told The Japan News the company was planning to exist outside of the proposed Honda-Nissan conglomerate.
Following the announcement that the merger wouldn’t go ahead, Nissan said it would undertake major cost-saving measures in a bid to recover 400 billion Yen ($4.14 billion) by the 2026 Japanese fiscal year.
For context, its operating profit slid from 478.4 billion Yen ($4.69 billion) in April to December 2023 to 64 billion Yen ($663 million) across the same period in 2024. Its net income also dropped by 320.2 billion Yen ($3.3 billion) to 5.1 billion Yen ($52.8 million).
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