Honda and Nissan’s Joint Venture to Break Through the Sales Slump: Can Patent Synergy Drive Market Breakthrough?

On December 23, 2024, Honda and Nissan, two major Japanese automakers, announced a historic decision to officially launch patent synergy merger negotiations.

This move is not only a response to the wave of electrification and intelligence in the global automotive industry, but also a strategic layout for Japanese automakers to seek new positioning in the global market.

After the merger, Honda and Nissan will jointly invest to establish a holding company, and both parties will operate as subsidiaries of the holding company. This model indicates that the two companies will achieve deep integration of intellectual property rights, especially in terms of patent synergy, thereby occupying a more favorable competitive position in the global automotive industry.

1. Honda’s patent strength

As of the end of 2024, Honda has approximately 24,000 valid patent families and approximately 61,000 valid patents worldwide, which proves Honda’s activeness in continuous innovation and patent applications.

Honda’s key technology areas include fuel cells, vehicle energy storage, electric traction, vehicle control, character and pattern recognition, and motorcycles. These areas have a total of 9,019 patent families, including 17,000 patents.

According to statistics from existing valid patents, Honda’s number of public patents in 2024 is 4,746, 4,096 in 2023, and 3,704 in 2022, increasing at a rate of about 10-15%.

2. Nissan’s patent strength

Nissan has nearly 12,000 valid patent families worldwide, with a total of about 32,000 valid patents, which is almost half of Honda’s number. However, the number of patents is not the only criterion for measuring a company’s technological innovation capabilities.

Nissan’s key technology areas include electric traction, transmission control, collision avoidance systems, vehicle energy storage, general power units, and pneumatic power units. It can be seen that these areas form patent synergy with Honda.

A total of 4,244 patent families and approximately 15,000 patents are deployed in these fields.

In the past five years, the number of patents disclosed by Nissan Motor Company has decreased by about 8% each year. As of now, 2,149 valid patents have been disclosed in 2024 and 2,456 in 2023.

Honda and Nissan have demonstrated strong strength in terms of the number of patents, distribution in technological fields, and protected areas.

After the merger, the patent synergy between the two companies may be further strengthened. However, whether they can achieve more breakthroughs in cutting-edge fields such as electric vehicles, autonomous driving, and intelligent connected networks through technology sharing, and whether these breakthroughs can enhance their market competitiveness, remains the key issue we are most concerned about.

Original link:Can patent synergy lead to a market breakthrough？
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