A hoped-for merger between Fiat Chrysler and Renault is dead. Long live the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance — or else.

That, in essence, was the message that emerged from interviews last week with Jean-Dominique Senard, the chairman of Renault, and Keiko Ihara, an independent Nissan board member, about the future of the troubled partnership between the automakers.

Neither executive put it quite so bluntly. But both acknowledged the overwhelming technological and market forces that are prompting carmakers like Volkswagen and Ford to bury longtime rivalries so they can confront what increasingly appears to be the greatest threat to their survival: Silicon Valley companies like Google and Uber.

Mr. Senard and Ms. Ihara both stressed the importance of rescuing the longtime partnership between Renault and Nissan, despite the turmoil that followed the arrest last year and subsequent ouster of its longtime leader, Carlos Ghosn. Tensions between the two carmakers increased in May after Renault failed to tell Nissan about merger talks with Fiat Chrysler until late in the game. The merger eventually fell through.