Honda Dismisses Rumors Of Making Body-On-Frame Models With Nissan

• A recent report speculates that Honda and Nissan could team up to develop a family of ladder-frame vehicles.
• However, a Honda spokesperson dismissed the rumors as “purely speculative.”
• Honda currently doesn’t sell any body-on-frame models.

Honda has heard the rumors about building body-on-frame SUVs and trucks with Nissan, and it has one thing to say: Not so fast. This week, Automotive News reported that Honda and Nissan are exploring opportunities that “could yield” body-on-frame models. That would be a pretty big deal for Honda, which doesn’t currently sell a single vehicle riding on a ladder frame.

Naturally, the report raised questions about whether Honda could be preparing a more rugged SUV or pickup to meet America’s growing appetite for truck-based vehicles. Well, there’s just one problem: Honda says that’s not happening. A company spokesperson told Road and Track that the two Japanese automakers do have an existing agreement to explore areas of cooperation, but pushed back on the idea that body-on-frame vehicles are part of the plan.

‘We have an existing MOU with Nissan (announced March 2024) to explore opportunities for strategic partnership,” the spokesperson said. “As Kaihara-san mentioned during the roundtable, there’s nothing to announce at this point. Regarding the AutoNews claim, ‘could yield BOF models’ is purely speculative.’

That’s about as clear as it gets. Plenty of discussions may be happening between Honda and Nissan, but Honda isn’t confirming plans for a family of ladder-frame SUVs and trucks. The report was intriguing because Nissan is going in the opposite direction. The company is preparing to bring back the Xterra as a body-on-frame SUV while working on a next-generation Frontier. That creates an obvious opportunity for platform sharing.

Instead of spending a lot of money on developing its own ladder-frame architecture, Honda would take a shortcut and use Nissan’s hardware for a more rugged SUV or pickup. Such a move would also give it access to a segment it has largely avoided, but it doesn’t appear to be happening. Instead, future models, like the new Ridgeline we’ve speculatively rendered here, are likely to stick to a unibody construction.

So, for now, don’t expect a Nissan-based Honda 4Runner rival or a ladder-frame Ridgeline. The idea makes sense on paper, but Honda says it’s just speculation.

Photo by: Nissan

Motor1’s Take: The idea of Honda and Nissan teaming up on body-on-frame vehicles was almost too logical. Nissan needs to spread the development costs of its upcoming truck-based lineup, while Honda could instantly gain access to an architecture it doesn’t have. And let’s be honest: A proper Honda body-on-frame SUV would be pretty darn interesting.

But Honda has now poured cold water on the idea, calling the claim “purely speculative.” That’s important because there’s a big difference between two automakers discussing potential areas of cooperation and actually developing a new vehicle together.