The tie-up between Honda and Nissan collapsed in February 2025 after the former attempted to turn a partnership into a full-blown takeover. Nissan’s CEO stepped down in March 2025, which fueled speculation that the deal could be back on the table. Now, a new report claims that the troubled carmaker may link arms with another rival instead. Toyota has allegedly said it’s willing to lend Nissan a much-needed helping hand. Is yet another partnership what the world’s biggest car company needs right now, though? We’re not so sure.
Citing a report published by Japanese newspaper The Mainichi, Automotive News wrote that Toyota allegedly offered to help Nissan after the talks with Honda fell apart. As of this writing, neither brand will confirm or even comment on the report, but we’ll update you if that changes.
There’s no word yet on how Toyota may want to help Nissan, but there’s no indication that a full merger deal is on the table. In January 2025, when Nissan and Honda were still hoping to join forces, Toyota chairman Akio Toyoda (pictured) speculated Nissan didn’t ask for his help because a merger would violate anti-monopoly laws. This doesn’t rule out another kind of partnership, like sharing platforms and engines.
Alternatively, Toyota may be able to acquire a relatively small, non-controlling stake in Nissan without summoning a dark cloud of disapproval from regulators. It’s no stranger to small-scale tie-ups: It already owns about 20% of Subaru, as well as a bit of Mazda, Suzuki, and Isuzu, along with a small stake in Yamaha and all of Daihatsu. Those relationships have led to some product collaborations, but with somewhat mixed results.
The tie-up with Subaru brought us the GR86 and the BRZ. They’re a tremendous amount of fun to drive, but the flat-four engine that they share became the subject of a class-action lawsuit in November 2024 due to allegations of oil system-related failures. Another product of the Toyota-Subaru alliance is the electric bZ4X–Solterra duo, which isn’t remarkable by any conventional means of measurement.
Mazda put the RAV4‘s hybrid drivetrain in the CX-50, and we concluded that this recipe works better on paper than in real life because it robs the model of its charm. Over in Japan, Daihatsu was rocked by a major safety scandal in December 2023 that spread to Mazda and Subaru. Safe to say Toyota hasn’t had universal success with subsidiaries; would it be spreading itself too thin if it took on Nissan, too?
In contrast, moving in with Honda arguably made more sense for Nissan. It wasn’t merely about making sure Nissan doesn’t sink; Japan’s second- and third-biggest carmakers could have merged to take on the global leader. Honda has fewer tie-ups on its plate, so it may have been able to allocate Nissan more time and resources. Not to mention that the Nissan-Honda deal was, on paper at least, a merger. Toyota likely isn’t going to save Nissan by buying a single-digit stake and giving it access to the 4Runner‘s underpinnings for a new Xterra.
Whether the offer is still on the table is unclear, but the idea of such a collaboration and Toyota’s willingness to help a rival through tough times is interesting. One might think the brand would sit back with a bowl of popcorn and watch the whole thing unfold from the sidelines.
In a separate report, The Mainichi wrote that Nissan will begin to encourage its administrative staff to retire early in the summer of 2025. This is the first time the brand has launched an early retirement program in 18 years, according to the newspaper, and it’s the latest in a long and growing line of efforts to reduce operating costs. All told, Nissan hopes to slash about 20,000 jobs across its global operations.
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