Even if the merger is off, Nissan remains keen on working with Honda in areas such as electric vehicles and software defined vehicles.

TOKYO — Nissan is set to call off merger talks with rival Honda, a source said Wednesday, abandoning a $60 billion-plus tie-up that would have created the world's No. 3 automaker and raising questions about how it will drive a turnaround by itself.

Two of Japan’s largest automakers have been in talks to combine their operations to form one of the world’s biggest car groups.

Nissan Motor Co. is seeking a new partner as it prepares to end negotiations to form a joint holding company with Honda Motor Co., people familiar with the matter said.

Nissan is open to working with new partners after merger talks with Honda foundered, two people familiar with its thinking said on Thursday, with Taiwan's Foxconn seen as one candidate. The struggling Japanese automaker is again at a crossroads after backing out of negotiations with bigger rival Honda to create the world's No.

Nissan's future reportedly became the sticking point in negotiations, with Honda pushing to make its smaller competitor a direct subsidiary.

Less than two months after announcing they'd merge by 2026, Nissan and Honda appear to be going their separate ways.

Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida met with his Honda counterpart Toshihiro Mibe on Thursday to say he wanted to end their merger talks after the larger automaker proposed making Nissan a subsidiary, said a source with knowledge of the matter.