Honda and Nissan Merger Officially Canceled

Honda and Nissan signed a Memorandum of Understanding on December 23, 2024, to discuss a merger. The plan was to establish a new holding company to integrate the two large Japanese automakers and go operational as early as 2026. However, shortly after the MoU was signed, sources close to the matter signaled the deal was doomed to fail. It’s now official—the merger has been canceled.

Honda and Nissan issued an identical press release stating the merger talks are now over. Those reports about Honda’s desire to turn Nissan into a subsidiary are confirmed in the official announcement as one of the “various options” that were analyzed during the discussions:

“Honda proposed changing the structure from establishing a joint holding company, where Honda would appoint the majority of directors and the chief executive officer based on a joint share transfer as initially outlined in the MOU, to a structure where Honda would be the parent company and Nissan the subsidiary through a share exchange.”

The separate MoU signed by Honda, Nissan, and Mitsubishi on December 23, 2024, has also been terminated. The other document analyzed how Mitsubishi could participate in the business integration between Honda and Nissan.

This is a developing story…