Change is in the air and it is about to materialise. Japan's Mitsubishi, writes Nikkei, will collaborate with Honda and Nissan to strengthen itself and fight tough competition in the electric vehicle sector, dominated by companies such as China's BYD and America's Tesla. Indeed, times have changed.

China, now the largest car market in the world, is full of new car manufacturers competing against each other, and the historic European and Japanese brands are struggling to keep up. By joining forces, the three Japanese manufacturers will have combined sales of more than 8 million vehicles.

EV and artificial intelligence

Mitsubishi Motors is part of a long-standing alliance with Nissan (which holds 34%) and France's Renault, but already last year the three companies agreed on the need to restructure, aiming for a scaled-down and more effective partnership. A separate collaboration between Nissan, Honda and Mitsubishi could help reduce costs and accelerate the development of what the market is now demanding: electric vehicles and artificial intelligence.

Nissan, Japan's third-largest carmaker, badly needs a turnaround. In the US and China it is steadily losing market share and on Thursday, as Nikkei reports, it cut its annual forecasts after heavy discounting in the US almost wiped out its first quarter profits.

No comment so far

The news of the alliance remains unofficial, however. Mitsubishi Motors and Honda declined to comment on the rumours in the Japanese press, and a Nissan spokesman recalled that there had been talk of new alliances for some time.

In March, Nissan and Honda said they were considering a strategic partnership to collaborate on the development of intelligent cars.

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