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.

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.

The $60 billion mega-merger between Honda and Nissan has been called off, in part because of Nissan's "pride and insufficient alarm about its