Hitachi, Honda Merge 4 Partsmaking Units

Hitachi Ltd. and Honda Motor Co. are creating a new company that combines four of their automotive components businesses.

The new company will combine Hitachi Automotive Systems Group with three Honda affiliates—Keihin Corp., Showa Corp. and Nissin Kogyo Co.—under the Hitachi Automotive Systems Ltd. name.

Hitachi will own two-thirds of the new company, and Honda will hold the remaining one-third. Brice Koch will be the new president and CEO. Former group CEO of OC Oerlikon Corp AG, Koch has been serving as executive advisor to Hitachi’s group CEO for two years.

Hitachi and Honda say the deal will create a global supplier of automotive and motorcycle systems with annual sales of 1.7 trillion yen ($15.6 billion) in three areas: powertrain, chassis and safety. Businesses will include electric drives, driver-assist technologies and autonomous driving systems.