Ex-Nissan CEO Ghosn Says Merger With Honda Is a ‘Desperate Move’

Nissan and Honda shook the automotive world when news of a possible merger came to light on Tuesday. Nothing is official yet, but that’s not stopping Nissan’s former boss Carlos Ghosn from sharing his thoughts on the potential deal. In a recent interview with Bloomberg, the embattled ex-CEO was extremely critical of a Nissan-Honda alliance and the reasons behind it.

“In my opinion, it’s a desperate move,” Ghosen told Bloomberg. “It’s not a pragmatic deal because frankly, the synergies between the two companies are difficult to find. There are practically no complimentary [characteristics] between the two companies. They’re in the same markets. They have the same products. The brands are very, very similar.”

Photo by: Honda

Furthermore, Ghosn is confident the proposed merger isn’t something homogenous between the two Japanese brands. He believes Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) is pushing the deal to shore up the Japanese economy, and that Honda isn’t happy about it.

“Having lived in Japan for so many years I understand how influential the METI can be,” explained Ghosn. “In my opinion, there is no industrial logic to it, but there is a moment when you have to choose between performance and control. Obviously if you can have both, it’s better. But there are moments when you have to choose, and without any doubt, with METI and everything I know from it, they prefer control on performance. So they pushed Honda into the deal, without any doubt.”

Ghosn made a daring Hollywood-esque escape from Japan several years ago where he was under house arrest, awaiting trial on numeorous charges for alleged financial crimes during his time at Nissan. He led the company for 16 years and was arguably its most successful CEO. Given the way his relationship with Nissan ended, it’s probably no surprise that he was critical of the company in his chat with Bloomberg.

Photo by: Honda

“You can measure the team by the results they get, that’s the only way you know if somebody is capable of doing something,” he said. “Frankly, when you look at the last five years [at Nissan], the results are not a good testimony of the strengths of the team.”

Neither Nissan nor Honda have anything to say about a possible merger at this time, but the brands have been collaborating for a few months now. A memorandum of understanding was signed in August to explore future projects. But a merger goes way beyond the sharing of ideas. If completed, it would make the conglomerate one of the largest automotive companies in the world. But, according to Ghosn, it wouldn’t be an easy task.

“You need to understand that Honda is an engineering organization, it’s very strong at engineering. And Nissan is very proud of its own engineering. So the battle here is to try to decide what technologies are going to be adopted by the new company—if it’s a merger—or by the new alliance. I can tell you is going to be very tough.”