(Bloomberg) -- Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. will begin negotiations on a possible merger as soon as Dec. 23, according to Japan’s Nikkei news service, bringing the two Japanese automakers a step closer together.

The start of formal discussions as soon as next week, which the Nikkei reported Wednesday without citing sources, would accelerate momentum toward a potential consolidation, which Bloomberg confirmed Tuesday is under consideration by the companies’ senior leadership, and could be widened to include Mitsubishi Motors Corp.

Representatives for Honda and Nissan in the US didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment on the start-date for talks.

Honda and Nissan’s move to strengthen ties comes after Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., the Taiwan-based producer of iPhones known as Foxconn, approached Nissan about acquiring a stake in the company, Bloomberg reported earlier Wednesday. 

Honda had threatened to either dissolve an existing technology partnership with Nissan if the Yokohama-based carmaker pursued a partnership with Foxconn, or become a white knight in the event of a hostile takeover attempt of Nissan by Foxconn, the Nikkei report said. 

A merger of the Japanese companies would create a bulwark against the Toyota Motor Corp. group at home and allow Honda and Nissan to pool resources to compete with Tesla Inc. and Chinese carmakers in global markets. 

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