Nissan CEO tells Honda CEO he wants to end merger talks, doesn’t want to be Honda’s subsidiary – report

Nissan president and CEO Makoto Uchida has met his Honda counterpart Toshihiro Mibe to call off merger talks after Honda proposed making Nissan a subsidiary, a source told Reuters.

Rumours surrounding the two carmakers merging began late last year after Nissan, currently in financial crisis, was reported to only be able to last another 12-14 months unless it finds a stable investor.

Nissan and Honda signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) two days before Christmas to explore a merger which, if successful, would create the world’s third-largest automotive group with an annual production of 7.4 million units.

Both companies aimed to finalise negotiations in June 2025 before forming a holding company in August 2026, when both Nissan and Honda would be delisted from the stock exchange. Reports emerged last month that Mitsubishi – not doing so well itself – might not take part in the merger.

The first sign that talks were not going well was in late-January, when Honda reportedly told Nissan to buy back its stake from Renault when it likely did not have the means to do so. Then, just two days ago, Nissan and Honda delayed the announcement of their plans from end-January to mid-February.

Yesterday, news surfaced that Nissan would withdraw from the talks because Honda proposed that Nissan become its subsidiary, which was not in the spirit of the original discussions for a merger of equals.

“A consensus was reached (on Nissan’s side) that the talks cannot proceed under that proposal,” an unnamed source familiar with the discussions told Reuters, adding that Nissan will formalise the decision to withdraw at a board meeting before its third-quarter earnings announcement next week.

Honda won’t accept the merger if Nissan won’t become its subsidiary, Reuters cited an NHK report as saying.

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