The Honda-Nissan merger looks increasingly inevitable. The situation has come together rapidly. Reports in late November indicated the automaker only had a year’s worth of money to survive. The company was looking for a major investor to keep things going,

Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. plan to merge under a holding company with the top executives chosen by Honda in a historical reshuffling of Japan’s auto industry meant to keep the country’s second- and third-largest players competitive amid a global onslaught of new competitors and technologies.

Facing extreme competitive pressure from the rise of Chinese EV makers, the Nos. 2 and 3 Japanese automakers turn to each other to build strength.