CEO Makoto Uchida could very well fall on his sword—whether or not Nissan’s board is still interested in a tie-up with its larger domestic rival. Japanese carmaker Honda Motor is reportedly demanding Nissan jettison CEO Makoto Uchida as a condition for reopening acquisition talks that could create the world’s third-largest carmaker by vehicle sales.

Honda Motor will resume talks with Nissan Motor to form the world's fourth-biggest automaker provided Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida steps down, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday citing a person familiar with discussions.

In a statement on Thursday, boards of both Nissan and Honda decided to mutually terminate their memorandum of understanding signed last August for a proposed tripartite deal that would have included Mitsubishi as well.

In a joint statement released the same day, Honda acknowledged that it proposed to divert from its original intention of forming a joint holding company to one where "Honda would

The recently-called-off merger between Honda and Nissan may not in fact be dead, according to a Financial Times report. Honda is willing to restart talks if Nissan CEO Makoto Uchi