“I was waiting for the Honda Altima to drop” — Internet reacts to Honda and Nissan canceling their proposed $60B merger

Honda and Nissan canceled their $60 billion merger on February 13, 2025, ending a partnership that would have made them the world's fourth-largest auto company by vehicle sales, after Toyota, Volkswagen, and Hyundai.

"Honda Motor Co., Ltd...and Nissan Motor Co., Ltd... (Honda and Nissan are collectively referred to as the ‘Companies’) today agreed to terminate the Memorandum of Understanding (the ‘MoU’) regarding the consideration of the Business Integration between the Companies (the ‘Business Integration’), signed on December 23rd, 2024 by the Companies, and discontinue the discussion and consideration of the Business Integration.”

In the wake of the announcement, the internet is having diverse reactions. For instance, @gookyjhit commented on Dexerto’s post on the same by writing:

“Dam bro I was waiting for the Honda Altima to drop.”

The post was accompanied by an image of Shrek.

Many people joined the conversation and shared similar reactions on the platform.

“I think they’ll still eventually merge … as subsidiaries of a single, larger Chinese company,” a person wrote.

“Goodbye Nissan you mean,” one person wrote.

“Wonder if Renault will come to the rescue again?” wrote another.

Others continued to weigh in.

“IMO probably for the best. better to wait until they have no other options, otherwise, it would drag both companies down,” a netizen wrote.

“It was just too complex a deal,” another netizen wrote.

“It sounded bad from the start, to be honest... Too much of an overlap between them, but with quite different approaches. And involving Mitsubishi - at the start - was even worse,” a user wrote.

“Both will be gone before the end of the decade. A shame but you can't fight China's stranglehold,” wrote another.

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More about the Honda-Nissan merger collapse

On Tuesday, the multi-billion-dollar merger between auto giants Honda and Nissan was canceled via a joint statement. According to the official release, the companies had "proposed changing the structure from establishing a joint holding company” to a structure where “Honda would be the parent company and Nissan the subsidiary through a share exchange."

However, the automobile firms eventually “disagreed” on the role Nissan would play in the tie-up – whether that of an equal partner to be integrated under a new holding company or a subsidiary.

"As a result of these discussions, 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 MOU," the statement read.

It further added that the car manufacturers would continue to “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,” as reported by NDTV.

Notably, in 2024, Nissan underwent thousands of layoffs after it was reported that the company saw a 93 percent drop in the first half of the year’s net profit. However, when the merger was announced in December, Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe had claimed that it was in no way a bailout for Nissan.

Meanwhile, as per BBC, advanced computer chips producer Foxconn has declared its intention to buy Nissan’s shares for “co-operation.” Young Liu, the chairman of the Taiwan-based investor mentioned it would join hands with French car giant Renault which has had 36 percent shares in Nissan since 1999.

Renault has not commented on the proposal yet. However, it called the terms of the Honda-Nissan fallout “unacceptable.”