On the morning of December 18, buy orders swelled in auto stocks after the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported that Nissan and Honda were considering a business merger. The Tokyo Stock Exchange halted trading of Nissan shares at 8:20 a.m. to confirm the veracity of the report, and trading resumed at 8:56 a.m. Nissan’s shares were stopped at 417.60 yen, the full price limit, and Mitsubishi Motors, Nissan’s largest shareholder, was also up sharply. Honda was down 29.50 yen to 1254 yen.

As announced in March and August, Nissan, Honda, and Mitsubishi Motors are committed to sharing the strengths of each company and to cooperating with each other in the future. As announced in March and August, Nissan, Honda, and Mitsubishi issued press releases stating that they are considering various ways to bring their respective strengths together and collaborate in the future.