It's the latest move in the slow consolidation of Japan's auto industry, following Toyota's $3 billion acquisition of Daihatsu last year. CEO Ghosn, said that the lessons learned from the Renault-Nissan "alliance" would inform his approach to integrating Mitsubishi into Nissan's operations. Nissan and Mitsubishi have partnered on cars for the Japanese market, Nissan has in the past built Mitsubishi-badged versions of some Infiniti models. And Mitsubishi once manufactured a Nissan-badged pickup that was sold in some global markets. In the near term, there's a mess to clean up. Nissan will have to help Mitsubishi recover from its scandal. On top of the public-relations challenge in its home market, Mitsubishi may be required to pay nearly $1 billion in compensation to Japanese customers who bought vehicles with falsely inflated fuel-economy claims. Longer term, as Mitsubishi is integrated into its acquirer's operations, Nissan (and Renault) will benefit by adding the beleaguered company's distribution networks and incremental scale.
