SHARP DECLINE
Iconic car brand ‘on brink of collapse’ suffers another blow as shares slump after Elon Musk rules out saving firm
The Japanese firm might have to turn to an iPhone manufacturer for help
AN ICONIC car brand on the "brink of collapse" has suffered another blow after its shares plummeted.
The Japanese carmaker pleaded for Elon Musk to come to the rescue after a failed merger, but the Tesla boss has refused to step in.
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Shares of Nissan Motor dropped by as much as 10 per cent, according to Bloomberg, leaving the manufacturing giant in the lurch.
It started to struggle after "not keeping up with the times" in terms of the soaring popularity of hybrid electric vehicles.
Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida said: "We weren’t able to foresee that hybrid electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids would be so popular."
Nissan was part of an alliance with Mitsubishi and Renault, formed in 1999 but this partnership now appears to be at risk of falling apart.
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This three-way deal was set up so each company had the financial backing to expand into Europe, Japan and the US but this might soon be coming to an end.
If the alliance breaks up, Nissan may need to seek other forms of financial support within the next year.
One of the firm's officials said: "We have 12 or 14 months to survive.
"This is going to be tough.
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"And in the end, we need Japan and the US to be generating cash."
The firm has already slashed 9,000 jobs globally and Uchida took a 50 per cent pay cut in a bid to keep the company afloat.
Its factories in Tennessee and Mississippi once held around one million cars but dropped to 525,000 vehicles last year.
With the carmaker left in limbo in terms of the alliance with Mitsubishi and Renault, it was forced to discuss a multi-billion pound merger with its rival Honda.
Lengthy conversations were had between Uchida and Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe but their relationship broke down as merger talks developed.
Mibe reportedly asked Uchida to resign from his position before any further discussions, according to those close to the Nissan boss.
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The Honda CEO was said to be frustrated by Nissan's money problems and lack of speed, leading to the nearly £50billion merger falling apart.
Uchida reportedly indicated he wanted to remain in his position until 2026 but recent board pressure could see him leaving sooner.
Desperate for investors, Nissan turned to business mogul and Trump advisor Elon Musk for help.
It was hoped the Tesla leader would swoop in and snap up the Japanese company's US factories, stablising Nissan's position.
When the Financial Times revealed a high-level Japanese group had drawn up plans for Tesla to invest, Nissan's shares jumped by 9.5 per cent.
However, Musk made it clear he has no intention of stepping in as the firm's saviour.
While he didn't explicitly decline Nissan's proposal, he responded to the FT's report on X and directed readers to his own designs instead.
On X, he shared: "The Tesla factory IS the product.
“The Cybercab production line is like nothing else in the automotive industry."
Now that Musk has shown he's not interested, Nissan's stock has plunged by 10 per cent - its biggest drop in three weeks.
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Nissan remains one of the biggest car automotive firms in the world but industry insiders reveal it is now open to mergers with other car or tech manufacturers.
It's been reported that Taiwanese electronic company Foxconn, best known for building iPhones for Apple, might be next in line to buy up shares.
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