TOKYO: Japan’s Mitsubishi Motors is set to join an alliance between Honda Motor and Nissan Motor, creating an auto group with combined sales of more than eight million vehicles, the Nikkei business daily says.

Mitsubishi Motors, which is 34% owned by Nissan, will work with Honda and Nissan to finalise the details of their partnership, but the three firms intend to standardise in-vehicle software that controls cars, Nikkei said.

Mitsubishi Motors declined to comment on the report, while officials at Nissan and Honda were not immediately available for comment. The push comes as Nissan, Japan’s third biggest automaker, has been steadily losing market share in its two largest markets, the United States and China, which together accounted for half of its global sales in the year to March.

Last Thursday, the company slashed its annual outlook after heavy discounting in the United States almost completely wiped out its first-quarter profit.

Collaboration could help Japan’s automakers cut costs and beef up to battle tough competition in electric vehicles, dominated by companies like China’s BYD and Tesla. In China Japanese brands previously were strong but are now up against domestic automakers.

 - Reuters