Taiwan's electronics firm Foxconn asks Honda to establish partnership: Report

By Mucahithan Avcioglu

ISTANBUL (AA) - Taiwan's electronics firm Foxconn has asked the Japanese automaker Honda to form a partnership, according to Japan's Nikkei newspaper on Friday.

The deal includes a joint venture with the rival Japanese automakers Nissan and Mitsubishi, according to the source.

Following the breakdown of Nissan-Honda merger talks, the chairman of Foxconn, the world's largest contract electronics manufacturer, stated earlier this month that the company would explore taking a share in Nissan for cooperation.

The merger talks, which began in December, collapsed on Feb. 13 due to a host of disagreements including Honda's proposal that Nissan become a subsidiary.

If the merger talks were successful, they would have created the world's third-biggest automaker by volume.

Nissan has been seeking its own strategic partner in recent weeks after it dropped to a quarterly loss and announced an emergency turnaround plan in November that entailed the loss of 9,000 jobs.

Tesla and Apple are among the potential candidates for Japan's Nissan to partner, according to the daily Financial Times.