Nissan Motor Co. will take a 34 percent stake in Mitsubishi Motors Corp., the two Japanese automakers announced Thursday.
DETROIT, MI - Nissan Motor Co. will take a 34 percent stake in Mitsubishi Motors Corp., the two Japanese automakers announced Thursday.
Nissan's 34 percent holding is valued at 237 billion yen, or about $2.2 billion.
Calling it a "far-reaching, strategic alliance," Nissan and Mitsubishi will cooperate in areas including purchasing, common vehicle platforms, technology-sharing, joint plant utilization and market leverage.
"This is a breakthrough transaction and a win-win for both Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors," Nissan President and CEO Carlos Ghosn said in a statement Thursday. "It creates a dynamic new force in the automotive industry that will cooperate intensively, and generate sizeable synergies."
The transaction, which is still subject to shareholder and regulatory approval, is expected to close by the end of the year.
Nissan and Mitsubishi had already been partnering on certain automotive projects in the last five years.
In fact, Mitsubishi is now embroiled in a fuel economy scandal in Japan after discrepancies in some vehicles were first discovered by Nissan, to which Mitsubishi was supplying certain cars.
Mitsubishi in April admitted to manipulating fuel economy data on four model vehicles sold in Japan, and this week said nine more models in Japan could have been improperly tested.
So far, cars in the U.S. have been unaffected. Mitsubishi sells five models in the U.S., including the Outlander, Outlander Sport, Mirage, Lancer and I-Miev electric car.