Honda Denies Nissan Collaboration Rumors

Honda has dismissed rumors of a potential partnership with Nissan to develop body-on-frame models. A recent report suggested that the two Japanese automakers were exploring opportunities to create a family of ladder-frame vehicles, but a Honda spokesperson called the claim “purely speculative.”

Honda currently doesn’t sell any body-on-frame models, and the report raised questions about whether the company could be preparing a more rugged SUV or pickup to meet America’s growing appetite for truck-based vehicles.

A company spokesperson told Road and Track that Honda and Nissan do have an existing agreement to explore areas of cooperation, but pushed back on the idea that body-on-frame vehicles are part of the plan.

‘We have an existing MOU with Nissan to explore opportunities for strategic partnership,” the spokesperson said. “As Kaihara-san mentioned during the roundtable, there’s nothing to announce at this point. Regarding the AutoNews claim, ‘could yield BOF models’ is purely speculative.’

Nissan is going in the opposite direction, preparing to bring back the Xterra as a body-on-frame SUV while working on a next-generation Frontier.

Nissan’s decision to bring back the Xterra creates an obvious opportunity for platform sharing, but Honda isn’t confirming plans for a family of ladder-frame SUVs and trucks.

Instead of spending a lot of money on developing its own ladder-frame architecture, Honda would take a shortcut and use Nissan’s hardware for a more rugged SUV or pickup, but it doesn’t appear to be happening.

Future models, like the new Ridgeline, are likely to stick to a unibody construction, and for now, don’t expect a Nissan-based Honda 4Runner rival or a ladder-frame Ridgeline.

The idea of Honda and Nissan teaming up on body-on-frame vehicles was almost too logical, as Nissan needs to spread the development costs of its upcoming truck-based lineup, while Honda could instantly gain access to an architecture it doesn’t have.

However, Honda has now poured cold water on the idea, calling the claim “purely speculative.” This distinction is important because there’s a big difference between two automakers discussing potential areas of cooperation and actually developing a new vehicle together.