• Nissan and Honda are reportedly considering a merger.

• However, former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn said the move suggested Nissan was in “panic mode”.

• “There is virtually no complementarity between the two companies,” Ghosn told Bloomberg on Friday.

The potential merger between Japanese automakers Nissan and Honda is a “desperate move,” said former Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn.

On Tuesday, Japanese newspaper Nikkei said the two companies were entering merger negotiations.

Pooling their resources would allow Nissan and Honda to better compete with rivals in the electric vehicle space such as Tesla and China’s electric vehicle makers, the outlet reported.

Honda and Nissan are the second and third largest automobile manufacturers in Japan, respectively. Their local rival Toyota is the largest car manufacturer in the world.

A merger between Nissan and Honda would result in the world’s third-largest automaker by volume.

Last week, Nissan and Honda told Business Insider that they were “considering various opportunities for future collaboration,” but added that “no decisions have been made.”

Ghosn said in an interview with Bloomberg on Friday that the proposed merger with Honda suggests Nissan is in “panic mode.”

“It’s not a pragmatic deal because, frankly, the synergies between the two companies are hard to find,” Ghosn said.

“There is virtually no complementarity between the two companies. They operate in the same markets. They have the same products. The brands are very similar,” he added.

Ghosn, Nissan and Honda did not respond to BI’s requests for comment.

Ghosn, once considered a legend of the auto industry, experienced a dramatic fall from grace in 2018.

The former CEO and chairman of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance was arrested in Japan in November 2018 and charged with financial crimes.

Ghosn was held in a Japanese prison for over 100 days, before leaving the country in December 2019 by smuggling himself into Lebanon in a musical instrument case.

The disgraced car boss protests his innocence. Last year, Ghosn filed a billion-dollar lawsuit in Lebanon against Nissan for damaging his finances and reputation.

On Friday, Ghosn told Bloomberg that the Japanese government – specifically the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry – was likely behind merger talks between Nissan and Honda.

“So ultimately they’re trying to find something that could unify Nissan’s short-term problems and Honda’s long-term vision,” Ghosn said.

The story continues