Photo/Illutration Nissan Motor Co. and Honda Motor Co. (Asahi Shimbun file photos)

I think I was still in elementary school when my father came home one day in a blue Nissan Bluebird he’d just bought secondhand.

The vehicle had a small patch of rust on its body, but the loud rumbling of its engine made everyone in my family smile happily.

We went on a drive without delay—and I immediately got carsick from the unaccustomed bumps and jolts.

The 20th century was the age of motorization. The new mode of transportation that became available to the human race spread around the globe in no time. Owner-driven cars transformed people’s lives dramatically in the industrialized world.

Times have changed, and the Japanese automobile industry of the 21st century is at a major crossroads.

Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. are commencing management integration talks which, if successful, will result in the birth of one of the world’s biggest automotive groups. I imagine this alliance is a survival strategy for the faltering Japanese carmakers.

Outside Japan, fast-growing American and Chinese startups are competing fiercely to improve EV charging technology and car interior comfort.

In this day and age, home electronics makers are producing automobiles, whose designs and functions are changing so drastically as to make me carsick.

Soichiro Honda (1906-1991), the founder of Honda Motor, once noted to the effect, “What emerges on the global market is not just a product, but the philosophy that went into its manufacture.”

He must have meant that automakers need to know exactly what they are making, and why.

Our old family Bluebird was a clunker that had no air conditioning and its windows didn’t close properly. But back then, it was totally cool.

What kind of cars are Honda and Nissan planning to make? I will keep an eye on the alliance.

—The Asahi Shimbun, Dec. 19

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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