Merger talks between Nissan and Honda have ceased, but that doesn’t mean the two companies aren’t collaborating. And the end products could be special.
Honda’s plans for a merger with Nissan have been canned, but the two companies could still collaborate on their next-generation supercars.
Although a formal tie-up between the two companies is no longer in the works, suggestions that Honda and Nissan could lean on one another for the development of the next-generation NSX and GT-R respectively have hit the mainstream.
Speaking to The Drive at the 2025 New York motor show, Nissan North America senior vice president and chief planning officer Ponz Pandikuthira posited that the two iconic nameplates could be renewed simultaneously while retaining their own authenticities.
“Can we do a next-generation NSX and GT-R off the same platform, make the NSX authentic to what it stands for and make a GT-R authentic to what it stands for? So they are not clones?”, Pandikuthira told The Drive.
MORE: Nissan GT-R R36 first details, including release date – report
“Can you co-develop two cars like that? I think we can.”
In saying that, Pandikuthira maintained that the two cars’ distinct identities need to remain sacrosanct. According to Pandikuthira, the first-generation NSX was famed for its all-aluminium construction and aerospace-like precision, while the Nissan GT-R earned its reputation by being a hard-hitting brute.
The Nissan executive said that he “would be optimistic” that those two different approaches could be respected, even while sharing the same platform technology.
This is a particularly interesting statement given that a new “NSX-type” supercar is slated to be all-electric. However, a new NSX and an electric “NSX-type” sports car need not necessarily be the same thing.
MORE: Honda NSX successor confirmed, but name TBC for electric supercar
Mr Pandikuthira told Motor1 at the 2025 New York motor show that a new (R36) GT-R will use hybrid power and will have to land as big a blow to European supercars such as the Porsche 911 as it did when the R35-generation launched in 2007.
Pandikuthira pointed to Aston Martin’s use of Mercedes-AMG engines as an example of how two brands could share technology while remaining distinct entities.
Nissan’s new CEO, Ivan Espinosa, was a key proponent of a merger between Honda and Nissan before the deal fell apart earlier this year, but Espinosa has “never stopped talking with Honda”, according to Pandikuthira.
While Pandikuthira was quick to point out that his comments weren’t confirmation that the future R36 GT-R and NSX are being co-developed, the executive was merely suggesting that “it can be done.”
“We need collaboration,” Pandikuthira told The Drive.
“We’re going to need partnerships to deliver vehicles. I think partnerships are going to be a key part of our future.”
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