Is Honda planning a proper ladder-frame ute to take on the Ford Ranger?
The Nikkei newspaper, via Reuters, reports Nissan has commenced discussions with Honda to supply it with vehicles produced at its under-utilised Canton, Mississippi plant in the US.
Specifically, Reuters reports Nissan will build Honda pickup trucks at Canton.
Hundreds of new car deals are available through CarExpert right now. Get the experts on your side and score a great deal. Browse now.
ABOVE: A Nissan Frontier at the Canton, Mississippi plant
This plant currently produces, among other models, the Frontier pickup. This vehicle, launched in 2021, is an evolution of what was sold in Australia as the D40-series Navara, featuring a revised version of its platform but fresh styling inside and out, and a naturally aspirated 3.8-litre petrol V6 mated with a nine-speed automatic transmission.
While Honda already has a dual-cab pickup on sale in the US with the Ridgeline, this is not only a lighter-duty unibody ute closely related to the Pilot crossover SUV, but also one that has been in production for nine years.
Honda had previously flagged, during aborted merger discussions, that Nissan had several 'large class' vehicles it didn't have, and was in discussions on the matter.
'So, if maybe we can exchange some of the vehicles, that would also be a benefit for us in the short term,' said Honda Motor Company director and vice president Noriya Kaihara in January.
ABOVE: Honda Ridgeline
'Maybe in the future, we can co-develop those vehicles. But in the short term, if we need we can get some of the Nissan vehicles for Honda as well.'
Media coverage at the time indicated Honda was looking at getting its own version of the Nissan Armada (aka Y63 Patrol) and Infiniti QX80 full-size SUVs, which would slot above its existing flagship SUV, the Acura MDX crossover.
But by launching a version of the Nissan Frontier, Honda would finally have a more traditional rival to the likes of the top-selling Toyota Tacoma in the US.
Whether this would be exported to markets like Australia is unclear, though unlikely. The Nissan Frontier is produced only in left-hand drive, with our market instead getting the Thai-built, diesel-powered Nissan Navara, a new generation of which is due by 2027.
Honda has tapped other brands for product before when it didn't have anything suitable of its own.
ABOVE: Honda Tourmaster
The Crossroad, sold exclusively in Japan, was a rebadged Land Rover Discovery and the only V8-powered model ever sold by the brand. It was discontinued in 1998.
More successful was the Passport, which lasted for two generations in the US market; the second generation of this model, a rebadged Isuzu Rodeo, was sold here as a Holden Frontera.
Honda's premium Acura brand also rebadged the Isuzu Trooper, known here as the Holden Jackaroo, dubbing it the SLX. In Japan, this was also sold as the Honda Horizon.
The Passport and SLX were eventually replaced by Honda-developed SUVs.
Honda has even put its name on another company's ute, rebadging the Isuzu TF (aka Holden Rodeo) for Thailand as the Tourmaster, which was produced from 1996 to 1998.
While all of these aforementioned models were mere rebadges, Honda currently offers the Prologue through its namesake brand and the Acura ZDX, which are both based on General Motors platforms but feature completely different styling inside and out.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Perth Now
an hour ago
- Perth Now
Swiss stunned by US tariff hike, seeks solution
Swiss manufacturers have warned that tens of thousands of jobs are at risk after US President Donald Trump hit them with one of the highest tariff rates in his global trade reset, even if there was some relief for now for the key drugs sector. The government said it was "disappointed" and would decide how to proceed after Trump on Friday set a 39 per cent tariff on the export-reliant country - more than double the 15 per cent rate for most European Union imports into the United States. The levy - up from an originally proposed 31 per cent tariff that Swiss officials had described as "incomprehensible" - is a body blow for the small Alpine nation, which counts the US as the top export market for its watches, jewellery and chocolates. The White House said on Friday it had made the move because of what it called Switzerland's refusal to make "meaningful concessions" by dropping trade barriers. "Switzerland, being one of the wealthiest, highest income countries on earth, cannot expect the United States to tolerate a one-sided trade relationship," a White House official said. Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter earlier told Reuters the government would keep talking to Washington, but there were only limited concessions it could offer, as US imports already enjoyed 99.3 per cent free market access. "We have companies that have made very important direct investments (in the US). It's really difficult to give more," she said on the sidelines of a Swiss National Day event in Ruetli. Switzerland's main export to the US is pharmaceutical products - worth $US35 billion ($A54 billion) last year - though officials said big pharma should not be affected by the higher rate for now. Swissmem, a group representing the mechanical and electrical engineering industries, said it was "really stunned" by the US move. "It's a massive shock for the export industry and for the whole country," said its deputy director Jean-Philippe Kohl. "The tariffs are not based on any rational basis and are totally arbitrary ... This tariff will hit Swiss industry very hard, especially as our competitors in the European Union, Britain and Japan have much lower tariffs." The US is Switzerland's top foreign watch market, accounting for 16.8 per cent of exports, or about 4.4 billion francs ($A8.4 billion), according to the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry. Shahzaib Khan, who runs two businesses selling Swiss luxury watches abroad, said the tariffs were "hard to digest". "This is getting out of hand a little bit... I don't think brands can absorb 39 per cent," Khan told Reuters. The new rate is set to take effect on August 7, and a Swiss source familiar with the matter said negotiations would continue.
Sydney Morning Herald
17 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
How a $155 billion ‘eco-paradise' fell short of its promise
At 9am, the beachfront was empty, except for a Malaysian couple and their grandson playing near a white concrete staircase jutting out over the sand. Dubbed the 'stairway to heaven', it's intended to be an Instagrammable spot, but it's difficult to pass over its metaphor as a boondoggle leading nowhere. While waiting to check in, I wandered the grounds for five hours, encountering maybe 20 visitors or residents. This paucity contrasted with the number of groundskeepers, maintenance workers and security staff roaming the facility, ensuring every fallen leaf was swept, hedge trimmed and pool sparkling to maintain the vision of a safe and immaculate paradise. At the centre of the estate, an entire building has been dedicated to selling this dream. A large-scale model of the project spans the length of a salesroom floor, capturing the grandeur of the four-island plan spanning 14 square kilometres that seems destined to remain a fantasy. A promotional video playing in the background claims the city is home to 15,000 residents and 'gradually growing'. By midmorning, a few Chinese buyers were flipping through brochures, outnumbered by staff ready to lock in a sale. From the outset, Country Garden gambled the success of its venture on the burgeoning Chinese middle class' seemingly insatiable appetite for real estate. It pitched Forest City as a way for Chinese investors to diversify their assets offshore, while dangling visa incentives and the prospect of residency in Malaysia. It has proved a bad bet. In 2020, Chinese President Xi Jinping began cracking down on the credit binge that the country's heavily leveraged developers had gorged on, setting in train a property-bubble bust that has wiped out wealth and confidence. Across China, cities are now littered with the abandoned ambitions of its developers, many of them falling into ruin. Country Garden has more than 3000 unfinished projects and nearly 1 million outstanding homes to complete, according to Japanese investment bank Nomura. It did not respond to a request for comment. Forest City has also suffered from lingering resentment in Malaysia at the idea of a massive project being built for Chinese buyers. This was fuelled by then-prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, who in 2018 said foreigners would not be granted visas to live there, further dampening demand. Visa controls have since been eased under current Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. Even with price decreases – a one-bedroom apartment starts at 500,000 Malaysian ringgit ($182,190) – Forest City is unaffordable for many locals and remains pitched at overseas buyers. Forest City may not be the total ghost town it's pegged as by the press, but it's far from the portrait of a vibrant, thriving community. At midday, many of the shops in the mall next to the hotel were still shuttered, some seemingly permanently. Those that were open had no customers, and bored shop assistants sat glued to their phones at vacant counters. At one coffee shop, the server was slumped across a table, asleep. A prime selling point for Forest City is its duty-free status. But a licensing issue meant none of the four duty-free shops in the mall were selling alcohol − one of the main drawcards for visitors, especially those from Singapore, where extortionate taxes make a tipple all but a luxury. One store was reduced to selling only chocolates, though upon entry its shelves were bare save for several boxes of wafer biscuits − a sales challenge that apparently required two shop assistants. One of them, a woman in her 40s, said she had lived in Forest City with her children for four years in an apartment tower behind the mall, having relocated from Kuala Lumpur. 'There are many people who live in my tower,' she says, explaining that most of them were Malaysian renters who commuted into Singapore daily for work. 'I like it here. It's very quiet.' By sundown, foot traffic has picked up. A modest number of people have filtered onto the beach and a volleyball game is under way. The hotel seems reasonably buzzy, due partly to the fact that a tech school, led by US cryptocurrency investor Balaji Srinivasan, has set up shop in the lobby. There are signs of life in towers, too, as lights begin flickering on in some of the apartments, though many remain dark. Country Garden isn't the only stakeholder banking on Forest City's future. Malaysian company Esplanade Danga 88, backed by the state's Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar, has a 40 per cent stake. Recently, the Malaysian government has ramped up its incentives to lure wealthy investors to the project, including offering a 0 per cent tax rate for those who set up family offices in Forest City. For now, it's quite something to climb the 'staircase to heaven' and peer back at the shore and marvel at the sheer scale of Forest City − its unbridled ambition, unfulfilled promise and uncertain future.
The Age
17 hours ago
- The Age
How a $155 billion ‘eco-paradise' fell short of its promise
At 9am, the beachfront was empty, except for a Malaysian couple and their grandson playing near a white concrete staircase jutting out over the sand. Dubbed the 'stairway to heaven', it's intended to be an Instagrammable spot, but it's difficult to pass over its metaphor as a boondoggle leading nowhere. While waiting to check in, I wandered the grounds for five hours, encountering maybe 20 visitors or residents. This paucity contrasted with the number of groundskeepers, maintenance workers and security staff roaming the facility, ensuring every fallen leaf was swept, hedge trimmed and pool sparkling to maintain the vision of a safe and immaculate paradise. At the centre of the estate, an entire building has been dedicated to selling this dream. A large-scale model of the project spans the length of a salesroom floor, capturing the grandeur of the four-island plan spanning 14 square kilometres that seems destined to remain a fantasy. A promotional video playing in the background claims the city is home to 15,000 residents and 'gradually growing'. By midmorning, a few Chinese buyers were flipping through brochures, outnumbered by staff ready to lock in a sale. From the outset, Country Garden gambled the success of its venture on the burgeoning Chinese middle class' seemingly insatiable appetite for real estate. It pitched Forest City as a way for Chinese investors to diversify their assets offshore, while dangling visa incentives and the prospect of residency in Malaysia. It has proved a bad bet. In 2020, Chinese President Xi Jinping began cracking down on the credit binge that the country's heavily leveraged developers had gorged on, setting in train a property-bubble bust that has wiped out wealth and confidence. Across China, cities are now littered with the abandoned ambitions of its developers, many of them falling into ruin. Country Garden has more than 3000 unfinished projects and nearly 1 million outstanding homes to complete, according to Japanese investment bank Nomura. It did not respond to a request for comment. Forest City has also suffered from lingering resentment in Malaysia at the idea of a massive project being built for Chinese buyers. This was fuelled by then-prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, who in 2018 said foreigners would not be granted visas to live there, further dampening demand. Visa controls have since been eased under current Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. Even with price decreases – a one-bedroom apartment starts at 500,000 Malaysian ringgit ($182,190) – Forest City is unaffordable for many locals and remains pitched at overseas buyers. Forest City may not be the total ghost town it's pegged as by the press, but it's far from the portrait of a vibrant, thriving community. At midday, many of the shops in the mall next to the hotel were still shuttered, some seemingly permanently. Those that were open had no customers, and bored shop assistants sat glued to their phones at vacant counters. At one coffee shop, the server was slumped across a table, asleep. A prime selling point for Forest City is its duty-free status. But a licensing issue meant none of the four duty-free shops in the mall were selling alcohol − one of the main drawcards for visitors, especially those from Singapore, where extortionate taxes make a tipple all but a luxury. One store was reduced to selling only chocolates, though upon entry its shelves were bare save for several boxes of wafer biscuits − a sales challenge that apparently required two shop assistants. One of them, a woman in her 40s, said she had lived in Forest City with her children for four years in an apartment tower behind the mall, having relocated from Kuala Lumpur. 'There are many people who live in my tower,' she says, explaining that most of them were Malaysian renters who commuted into Singapore daily for work. 'I like it here. It's very quiet.' By sundown, foot traffic has picked up. A modest number of people have filtered onto the beach and a volleyball game is under way. The hotel seems reasonably buzzy, due partly to the fact that a tech school, led by US cryptocurrency investor Balaji Srinivasan, has set up shop in the lobby. There are signs of life in towers, too, as lights begin flickering on in some of the apartments, though many remain dark. Country Garden isn't the only stakeholder banking on Forest City's future. Malaysian company Esplanade Danga 88, backed by the state's Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar, has a 40 per cent stake. Recently, the Malaysian government has ramped up its incentives to lure wealthy investors to the project, including offering a 0 per cent tax rate for those who set up family offices in Forest City. For now, it's quite something to climb the 'staircase to heaven' and peer back at the shore and marvel at the sheer scale of Forest City − its unbridled ambition, unfulfilled promise and uncertain future.
