In the summer of 2020 when the Financial Times reported that Japanese government officials had tried to merge Honda and Nissan, sceptics scoffed at the idea as akin to mixing “oil and water”. Nearly four years later, Japan’s second- and third-largest carmakers (behind Toyota) are planning to combine forces to develop electric cars in a bid to survive the coming wave of high-tech, low-cost models from China. While Honda has ruled out a capital tie-up with Nissan for now, the endeavour is the closest the two historic rivals have ever come in terms of working together.From the early days of their establishment, Nissan and Honda have taken very different paths to growth. When Nissan started in 1934, Yoshisuke Aikawa, its low-profile founder, built the group into a massive conglomerate during the prewar period through a series of aggressive acquisitions that were funded by taking its companies public. In the case of Soichiro Honda, the charismatic founder of the eponymous carmaker, he was famous for his go-it-alone strategy and is said to have criticised alliances for slowing things down. Until recently, that DNA has stayed with the company.
2020年夏天，当英国《金融时报》报道日本政府官员试图合并本田(Honda)和日产(Nissan)时，持怀疑态度的人嘲笑这一想法类似于让“油和水”混合。近四年后，日本第二和第三大汽车制造商（仅次于丰田(Toyota)）正计划联手开发电动汽车，以求在即将到来的manbetx3.0 高技术、低成本汽车的浪潮中生存下来。尽管本田目前已经排除了与日产的资本合作，但这一努力是这两个宿敌有史以来最紧密的一次合作。