Honda and Nissan are forging a partnership in the areas of electrification and software, and Mitsubishi wants a piece of the action.
Honda and Nissan first announced plans for their partnership in March, which at the time of the announcement was only at the feasibility study stage.
Japan's Nikkei newspaper reported on Sunday and the automakers confirmed on Thursday that Mitsubishi will now work with Honda and Nissan to finalize the details of the partnership, particularly when it comes to standardization of in-vehicle software systems.
A joint statement from the automakers said a memorandum of understanding to jointly explore the potential for collaboration has been signed. The areas of electrification and software development for vehicles is the main focus of the agreement. Mitsubishi joining the partnership will provide additional synergies and business opportunities compared to a partnership consistently solely of Honda and Nissan, according to the automakers.
The tie-up will leave Japan with two dominant automotive groups to better challenge Tesla and a band of Chinese EV brands.
Toyota and its associated brands will form one of the groups and the other will be the alliance between Honda, Nissan, and Mitsubishi. Combined, the two groups last year sold over 19 million vehicles.
Mitsubishi is already closely linked with Nissan. Both automakers form part of the Renault Nissan Mitsubishi Alliance, and already share platforms and EV technology. Approximately 34% of Mitsubishi's shares are also owned by Nissan.
Mitsubishi and Honda have also been linked in the past. Most recently, the two automakers tested the waters with a battery leasing joint venture company known as Altna.
Japanese brands have lagged some of their foreign rivals in rolling out EVs and are now playing catch up. China's EV leadership helped the country overtake Japan last year to become the world's largest exporter of vehicles.
Separately, Toyota, Mazda, and Subaru in May also teamed up to develop a new generation of internal-combustion engines.
