Nissan and Honda ended merger talks to forge a $60 billion car company on Thursday, pitching Nissan deeper into uncertainty and highlighting the pressure on legacy automakers from Chinese rivals upending the industry.

Japanese auto giants Honda and Nissan confirmed they've scrapped merger talks announced in December​, ending a tie-up that would have created the world's third-largest automaker.

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