Posted on 07/07/2006 11:45:21 AM PDT by eraser2005
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- General Motors announced Friday that it would hold "exploratory discussions" with Renault and Nissan regarding a potential combination of some sort of the three companies.
The statement from GM (Charts) said the decision to start talks was a "recommendation by the company's senior management." But it is clear that the push came from Kirk Kerkorian, the company's largest shareholder, who a week ago wrote to GM to say that Nissan and Renault, which already have joint ownership positions in each other, was interested in buying "a significant minority interest" in GM.
(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...
Interestingly, though, GM already does some partnering with Toyota with NUMMI and through a few tech deals. I wonder how a formal partnership with Nissan could affect this. Would Toyota break off and seek other partners or go it alone (more likely)? They already have a few tech deals with Ford, but Ford also controls Mazda... Together their market share would be near 40% in the US, which might be considered "too much"... DaimlerChrysler is the only other potential partner here, but would that be much better considering the Lexus/Mercedes competition?
What's good for GM is good for.........France?...........
Yeah, make your cars more French, GM, that will help.
I like the idea of a three way merger. Good opportunity to cut some car lines and consolidate manufacturing. I would ditch Saturn, Buick, and maybe Infinity.
Only one man can save GM:
ROGER PENSKE
I can't understand why the board hasn't begged him to take the job, unless perhaps he has quietly declined it already.
Although at age 68 he's 20 yrs younger than Kirk Kerk, LOL
Renault and Nissan have been in a partnership for some time. Nissan,USA is based in Nashville, TN (as of this summer).
Renault did such a fantastic job turning AMC around that I can't wait for them to do their magic again on GM.
Man!!! How bad does it have to be for GM to be talking with . . . . Renault!!????
I didn't know they were involved in AMC. I thought that was Chrysler, but I thought they did a bang up job of keeping Nissan out of bankruptcy, mainly by redesigning their product lines and bringing back some interesting cars(280Z, 300ZX, etc)
Pretty bad. For GM.
But does ANYONE take Isuzu or Suzuki seriously as a car manufacturer?
Mazda is light years ahead of those two....
Renault took a 5% share in AMC in 1979 (sound familiar?) and boosted that to 49% in 1983. They sold out to Chrysler in 1987 when they found they couldn't save what was left, the Jeep and Eagle divisions...
Exactly what I thought too.
The Le Car is the only car I ever saw with only three lugnuts on each wheel.
I also wonder about the Toyota angle. I just bought a Pontiac Vibe which has a Toyota engine. It's a fantastic car for us and we thought it was the right combination of domestic/foreign. (34 mpg so far!!)
pontiac vibe is a toyota matrix
It is interesting to point out that the Ford Fusion and the Ford Five Hundred both offer transmission options which are built by Aisin, a Toyota subsidiary. And Ford's ability to infringe on Toyota's patents on hybrid tech is based on agreement to let Toyota infringe on Ford's direct injection tech (that tech is being used on the Mazdaspeed6 and CX-7), IIRC....
It is essentially the same car, but how many parts are interchangeable? Its amazing how many parts are not interchangeable on the old Corolla and Prizm, considering they were essentially the same car....
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