Nissan Motor and Honda Motor are expected to reach a final decision on Thursday to end their integration talks.

The Japanese automakers have been in talks since December about a merger under a joint parent company. But Honda recently changed its strategy and proposed acquiring Nissan's shares to make it a wholly owned subsidiary.

Nissan rebuffed the offer and told Honda it would terminate the negotiations.

The companies will hold board meetings on Thursday. They are expected to decide to call off the talks.

They hoped an integration would allow them to better compete with emerging US and Chinese makers in electric vehicles, software development and other fields. But the two firms will have to review their business strategy.

Nissan faces the challenge of turning around its business amid worsening performance. In November, it announced measures including cutting production capacity by 20 percent and reducing the workforce by 9,000.

Sugiura Seiji, a senior analyst at Tokai Tokyo Intelligence Laboratory, said speed and decisiveness are important for that task. But he says he thinks Nissan will face difficulties in pushing the plan forward because there will be opposition to it in the firm.

Sugiura also said management may believe a plant closure would pose the risk of Nissan losing its business foundation in the region concerned.

Sugiura said he thinks management wants to carry out restructuring while reserving available capacity for a revival in the future.