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

There's strife of the horizon as Nissan vehemently opposes Honda's suggestion of making the struggling carmaker its subsidiary.

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.