The Honda-Nissan merger is dead

Always more of a takeover than a merger, they agreed to call the whole thing off.

The proposed merger between Honda and Nissan is officially dead. The plan, announced in late December, would have created the world's third-largest automaker, displacing Volkswagen Group from the bronze on the podium. But it was also never quite seen as a merger of equals—many suspected this was a Honda takeover of beleaguered Nissan at the behest of the Japanese government.

Nissan is already part of a triple-alliance, together with Mitsubishi and France's Renault. Although Mitsubishi considered joining the Honda-Nissan merger, that was old news by late January.

That alliance might have been part of the problem. Although not an actual merger, the car companies involved each own stakes in the other—in Renault's case, it owns 37.5 percent of Nissan. Honda would have liked Nissan to buy out Renault's stake, presumably not keen on such a significant chunk of the company under foreign ownership.

But Nissan doesn't exactly have the cash on hand to make that purchase—if it did, the merger wouldn't be necessary, after all. Further complicating things, Renault is believed to have demanded a premium from Honda for its stake in Nissan.

Honda and Nissan were also unable to agree on a management structure, as well as a valuation for Nissan, and now they've agreed to just call the whole thing off. Nissan executives had no desire to oversee what would become a subsidiary of Honda, and few analysts identified much in the way of possible synergy between the two automakers.

"Both companies concluded that, to prioritize speed of decision-making and execution of management measures in an increasingly volatile market environment heading into the era of electrification, it would be most appropriate to cease discussions and terminate the [memorandum of understanding]," the companies said in a joint statement.

"Going forward, Nissan and Honda will collaborate within the framework of a strategic partnership aimed at the era of intelligence and electrified vehicles, striving to create new value and maximize the corporate value of both companies," they said.

Honda just reported a 6 percent increase in its operating profits this past quarter and is unlikely to falter with the failure of this deal. Nissan remains in a precarious position, though. It has lost money for the last two quarters and today announced a turnaround plan that includes cutting 9,000 jobs, closing three factories, and reducing shifts at many more, including here in the US. Rumors continue to swirl about a possible tie-up with Taiwanese Foxconn.

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