Uchida had been one of the strongest advocates within Nissan for a deal with Honda. However, relations between Uchida and his counterpart Toshihiro Mibe deteriorated as Honda became frustrated with the speed of Nissan’s restructuring and the depth of its financial troubles.

Nissan’s April-December profit crashed to 5.1 billion yen, or $33 million, a tiny fraction of the 325 billion yen profit the Japanese automaker recorded the previous year.

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.