Nissan calls off RM265 billion merger talks with Honda

Nissan will reportedly call off talks for a merger with Honda as the two Japanese carmakers could not reach a consensus on the terms of the merger deal, Reuters wrote citing a Nikkei report.

Honda had sounded out Nissan about becoming a subsidiary, Reuters cited one of its sources as saying, however this would have not been in the spirit of the original discussions for a merger of equals; Honda was increasingly concerned about Nissan’s plans to turn around its fortunes.

Meanwhile, Nissan also has a larger risk exposure to the US-Mexico tariffs compared to compatriots Honda and Toyota, Reuters cited analyst Vincent Sun as saying.

The merger of the two Japanese carmakers was valued at more than US$60 billion (RM265 billion), Reuters wrote, and if materialised, would have created the third-largest carmaker by sales, however Nissan’s struggles continued as it announced it is to cut 9,000 jobs and reduce production capacity by 20%.

Earlier, a report yesterday by Kyodo News wrote that Nissan and Honda were still discussing the finer details of the proposed merger, following a press conference last month stating that the two carmakers agreed to begin talks of merging under a new holding company in 2026.

The two carmakers signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in December 2024 to explore the possibility of a merger that would lead to the establishing of the aforementioned joint holding company, with Mitsubishi having reached a basic agreement to become a third member of the alliance.

Nissan and Honda initially had the aim of arriving at a definitive agreement by June this year, while reports emerged last month that Mitsubishi might not take part in the merger.

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