It could be that there are more serious talks afoot than what was reported; the President of GM flying to visit Toyota, particularly with the events of the last few days, strikes me as it might be a harbinger for more than a discussion of environmental and safety technologies for GM's products.
Wagoner has been in Washington twice in the last month too. A lot of travel for a CEO who is up to his ass in alligators. Perhaps he did not get what he wanted from Washington so he is going to get it in Tokyo. There certainly is no reason for Toyota to do anything benevolent to help GM.