AN ICONIC car brand with just 12 months left before collapse could be saved by a major tech firm behind the Apple iPhone.
Foxconn revealed plans to buy a stake in the Japanese car firm after the breakdown of a key merger.
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Nissan is reportedly on the brink of collapse, having planned to cut 9,000 jobs.
But Foxconn looks set to bail it out.
The Taiwanese tech giant announced on Wednesday it would be looking to buy Renault‘s shares in Nissan, in a bid to work together on developing EVs.
Details of the contract will be revealed in a couple of months, reports the Financial Times.
Emphasising a desire for “cooperation” over investment, the firm’s chair Young Liu said: “buying shares is not our main goal.”
“If [taking a stake] is necessary for co-operation we will take it,” he added.
His comments explain Foxconn’s motivation behind investing in Nissan after the Japanese car company‘s partnership with Honda broke down.
Foxconn is best known for manufacturing Apple iPhone products but it is also carving a path in the EV market – designing and manufacturing electric cars for companies.
But whilst it already counts a number of start-ups on its portfolio, Nissan would be its first contract with an international and legacy carmaker.
Failed partnership
Their interest comes days after “merger” talks between Nissan and Honda fell apart.
Last year, Nissan was on the brink of collapse when rival Honda offered an almost £50million lifeline.
The firm had already cut 9,000 jobs across its global operation, while its CEO Makoto Uchida took a 50 per cent pay cut in an economy drive.
In turn, the Japanese firm hoped to create a powerful dual-force against the Chinese brands dominating the industry.
Nissan and Honda would have used each other’s plants to build vehicles and create manufacturing capabilities that would rival Tesla.
But the talks have been complicated by growing differences on both sides, according to reports.
And in little more than a month the partnership failed, reportedly due to Nissan’s “pride” and Honda’s revised terms.
Both of whom declined to be identified because they were not authorised to speak to the media, the Nikkei newspaper said.
Honda reportedly sounded out Nissan about becoming a subsidiary, which was deemed a departure from the spirit of discussions originally framed as a merger of equals.
A Nissan spokesperson said the Nikkei report was not based on information announced by the company and that it aimed to finalise its future direction by mid-February and would announce it at that time.
Nissan is in the middle of a turnaround plan aiming to cut 9,000 employees and 20 per cent of global capacity.
Honda, with a market value nearly five times bigger than Nissan, was increasingly worried about its smaller rival’s progress on the turnaround plan, said the other person.
The tie-up talks coincided with the disruption posed by potential tariffs from newly-elected US President Donald Trump.
Tariffs against Mexico would be more painful for Nissan than for Honda or Toyota, according to analysts.
“Investors may get concerned about Nissan’s future (and) turnaround,” said Morningstar analyst Vincent Sun.
“Nissan also has a larger risk exposure to US-Mexico tariffs than Honda and Toyota.”
Shares in Nissan slid more than 4 per cent before trade was suspended by the Tokyo Stock Exchange following the report.
Shares of Honda continued to trade and finished the day up more than 8 per cent, in a sign of apparent investor relief that the deal had been scrapped.
