Japan’s Nissan and Honda have said that their boards have voted to end talks over a merger that would have created a $60bn (£48bn) auto group, but added that both companies would continue to cooperate in electric vehicles.
Nissan, Japan’s third-largest automaker, backed out of the talks with its larger rival Honda after negotiations were complicated by growing differences, including Honda proposing that Nissan become a subsidiary, Reuters previously reported.
Before announcing the merger discussions in December, Nissan and Honda had been holding separate talks on a technology collaboration, which they could outline the scope of later on Thursday.
The Foxconn chair, Young Liu, said on Wednesday that it would consider taking a stake in Nissan but that its main aim was cooperation.
Nissan is now open to working with new partners, with Taiwan’s Foxconn seen as one candidate, Reuters reported last week.
