Mitsubishi-Nissan Alliance Stronger Than Ever

Sometime in November, rumors swirled around Nissan planning to sell its 34% stake in Mitsubishi. However, both companies have since denied the speculation and went business as usual with Nissan focusing on efforts to recover from huge financial losses and Mitsubishi doing the same by scaling down its operations in Europe.

The two automakers have suffered greatly from growing competition in and out of the United States and internal issues caused by leadership. If there’s anything to take away from this fiasco, it’s that Mitsubishi seemingly won’t be able to survive without Nissan.

A report published by Automotive News revealed that the two companies are expecting to have their ties even more strengthened forward, especially since Mitsubishi has moved its North America headquarters from Southern California to Franklin, Tennessee, a location closer to Nissan’s office.

With the reduced physical distance from both offices, the two manufacturers are likely going to work closer together on a range of products for future releases.

First on the list, most probably, is the all-new Mitsubishi Outlander that’s set to arrive in the coming months. The Outlander will share the same platform as the new-for-2021 Nissan Rogue. However, it will keep its unique styling with its architecture largely based on the Nissan system.

Outside America, both brands are working towards blending their strengths in building minicars, EVs, and dominating the Southeast Asian automotive market. But this does not seem to be the case in the US as Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida admitted both Nissan and Mitsubishi have individual work to do in the West.

“Right now, we are not discussing much. We say it this way—for a Mitsubishi plan, they need to build their own strategy in the US,” Uchida said. “If they think they want support from Nissan, then, of course, we can support. So each brand has to build its own strategy. That comes first.”

Mitsubishi was the last to join the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance in 2016. Prior to that, the automaker was on the brink of insurmountable loss until the alliance turned things around for the company.