Japanese automakers Nissan and Honda say they plan to share components for electric vehicles like batteries and jointly research software for autonomous driving.

Honda is gearing up for an electrification shift in North America with two models developed with General Motors going on sale next year, and a bigger EV with a new platform in 2025, a year earlier than initially announced.

Honda is investing $40 billion over the next decade in research, especially to realize a major shift to ecological electric vehicles.

Honda Motor Co. said Mibe replaces Takahiro Hachigo effective April 1, and subject to shareholders’ approval at a meeting in June. Mibe, who joined Honda in 1987, had been widely expected to take the top post, according to Japanese media. Hachigo said Mibe, a research and development expert, was a good person to lead Honda because of his experience in ecological vehicles. Honda recently reported growth in fiscal third quarter profit and raised its annual profit forecast to 465 billion yen ($4.4 billion), up from the previous projection for a 390 billion yen ($3.7 billion) profit. The latest forecast is also better than the 456 billion yen profit Honda earned the previous fiscal year, although Honda warned the outlook remains uncertain because the impact from COVID-29 was still unclear.