ELON Musk has been urged to rescue an iconic car brand that is “on the brink of collapse” after merger talks with Tesla’s rival fall apart.
The CEO has been asked to step in as an investor to “save” the brand’s position.
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Japanese business leaders are encouraging Musk to invest in Nissan after its merger discussions with Honda fell through.
It was hoped the Tesla leader would swoop in and snap up the Japanese company’s factories.
Hiro Mizuno, a former staff member at Tesla, and ex-Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga both pushed for the businessmen to buy up Nissan’s US plants.
However, Musk made it clear he has no intention of stepping in as saviour.
While he didn’t outwardly declined the proposal to purchase Nissan’s factories, he responded to an article by the Financial Times detailing the request.
On X, he wrote: “The Tesla factory IS the product.
“The Cybercab production line is like nothing else in the automotive industry.”
Tesla’s self-driving, battery-powered car, The Cybercab, is still under development by the manufacturer and is set to drive using AI.
The steering wheel-less motor was unveiled in October 2024 and is expected to be released sometime before 2027.
On Friday Nissan’s stock jumped by nearly five per cent, leaving Nissan keen to work out a mutually beneficial agreement between them and Tesla.
The Japanese group was hoping Tesla would buy up the US plants, seeing it as an opportunity to grow Tesla’s presence, while also helping to stabilize Nissan’s finances.
Nissan’s factories in Tennessee and Mississippi hold around one million cars.
However, these dropped to 525,000 vehicles last year and Nissan revealed they were making job cuts and a whopping 20 per cent reduction in their operations.
The carmaker’s stock was once priced at $27 per share but it’s plummeted to $6 as of Friday.
Last year Nissan cut 9,000 jobs globally and halved its current chief executive’s pay.
Tesla was brought into the conversation after Nissan’s merger with Honda failed.
The $58 billion merger proposal was in motion but fell apart before it was completed.
Now Nissan is vulnerable to foreign acquisition, activist investors, or private equity looking to take advantage of its weak financial position.
The Financial Times reported that it could bring merger talks back on the cards, but only if Nissan’s CEO Makoto Uchida, stepped down.
Uchida was chosen by a board of directors to become the new Nissan CEO in 2019 and took office on December 1.
The current boss was a big advocate for the merger between Nissan and Honda has indicated he would like to remain in his position desire until 2026.
It’s unclear what the next step in the Honda-Nissan merger are but the manufacturers said they would maintain their partnership on EV’s.
