Elon Musk has rebuffed the idea that Tesla could put money into the struggling carmaker Nissan, after a report that said a Japanese group was seeking its investment sent shares soaring.
Nissan’s stock market value jumped by 9.5% on Friday after claims that the former prime minister Yoshihide Suga was among those who want the US electric carmaker to become a strategic investor, possibly in exchange for Nissan’s American factories.
Musk immediately appeared to reject the idea, but his comments came after Nissan’s shares had closed trading in Tokyo at ¥458.80 (£2.40), its highest level since early January during short-lived merger talks with the larger Japanese rival Honda.
Nissan has struggled in recent years with leadership turmoil and slumping profitability that have undermined its efforts to invest in electric car technology. The report of the Tesla investment proposal came after Nissan this month called off the Honda merger talks after balking at the idea of becoming a subsidiary of the larger company.
The merger plans were first prompted by an approach to buy Nissan shares from Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry, also known as Foxconn, which produces iPhones in China for Apple.
Foxconn has big ambitions to produce a large proportion of the world’s electric cars. Japan’s Nikkei newspaper reported on Friday that it had approached Honda about forming a partnership.
The mooted Tesla investment plan was reported by the Financial Times, which said the push was being led by Suga, who was Japan’s premier for a year in 2020-21, along with his former aide Hiroto Izumi and the former Tesla board member Hiro Mizuno. Several board members at Nissan were aware of the proposal, the FT said.
A sale of plants could make sense for Nissan, which is in the process of cutting 9,000 jobs worldwide as part of its turnaround efforts. Extra US plants could help Tesla as the US president, Donald Trump, appears set on imposing tariffs on the car industry, despite his close relationship with Musk.
The world’s richest man was the biggest single funder of Trump’s presidential campaign, and is running a deeply controversial effort to cut back entire US government departments for Trump.
However, Musk has long said that Tesla’s manufacturing process is a key advantage over rivals in electric vehicle production, meaning taking over another carmaker’s plant may be less attractive.
He has touted significant investment in Tesla’s own metal stamping and robotics, including on Tesla’s next vehicle, a taxi called the Cybercab that is planned to be fully autonomous.
Responding to a post about the report on X, the social network he owns, Musk wrote: “The Tesla factory IS the product. The Cybercab production line is like nothing else in the automotive industry.”
Finding another investor could be attractive for Nissan, which is keen – despite its difficult financial circumstances – to retain its position as a major global brand without control of the company moving outside Japan.
Foxconn already has a tie-up called Foxtron with the Taiwanese carmaker and importer Yulon Motor Co to make electric cars.
Other technology companies are also targeting the car industry, including the Chinese phone makers Huawei and Xiaomi, and the online retailer Alibaba.
Nissan declined to comment.
