Honda and Nissan agree to work together on developing electric vehicles and intelligence technology

TOKYO (AP) — Nissan and Honda said Friday they will work together on developing electric vehicles and auto intelligence technology to pool resources in a sector where Japanese automakers have fallen behind.

The chief executives of Nissan Motor Co. and Honda Motor Co. appeared together in a news conference in Tokyo to announce that Japan’s second and third biggest automakers would look into possibilities, scope and areas that show potential for collaboration in electrification and the use of intelligence cars.

Their agreement is non-binding, and discussions will now start, they said.

The world’s automakers are moving toward what promises to be a growth business centered on electric vehicles, focusing on batteries and motors, instead of gas engines, as concerns grow about emissions and climate change.

The Japanese have fallen behind some of the world’s powerful rivals like Tesla partly because they have historically been so successful with combustion engine products.