Honda and Nissan initially said they were trying to finalize an agreement by June and set up the holding company by August. The three automakers will continue to work together on electric vehicles and smart cars, such as autonomous driving, they said Thursday.

As Honda Motor pursued merger talks with Nissan Motor, the automaker was also eager to get a third party in the envisioned partnership: Mitsubishi Motors. Honda's hope was for Mitsubishi to join a holding company to be formed by Honda and Nissan,

Top executives from Honda, Nissan and Mitsubishi had been in talks to form a joint holding company to compete with Tesla and Chinese automakers on electric vehicles, but those talks have fallen through.