Honda and Nissan officially begin merger talks to create world's third-largest automaker

In its most recent quarterly results, Nissan said it would cut 9,000 jobs and reduce global production capacity by a fifth.

The automaker has “been struggling in the market, it’s been struggling at home, it doesn’t have the right product line-up,” Peter Wells, professor of business and sustainability at Cardiff Business School’s Centre for Automotive Industry Research, told CNBC’s “Street Signs Europe” last week.

“There are so many warning signs, so many red flags around Nissan at the moment that something had to happen. Whether this is the answer is another question,” Wells added.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated shortly.

— CNBC’s Sam Meredith contributed to this story.