It was not immediately clear if the merger could survive, with comments from the two sources appearing to leave open the option for a restart.

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.

Two of Japan’s largest automakers have been in talks to combine their operations to form one of the world’s biggest car groups.