GM / Renault / Nissan Alliance & Other Speculations (Update Pg 4/5)
07-17-06, 01:26 PM
#61
G35x - RWD/AWD goodness
GM-Nissan Saga: CEOs Agree to Deeper Talks as Toyota Rumors Fly
Date posted: 07-17-2006
DETROIT — Two captains of industry — one American, the other a Brazilian-born Lebanese multinational — met for dinner here Friday night and agreed to discuss a historic three-way alliance that could link General Motors with Renault and Nissan.
GM Chairman Rick Wagoner dined with Carlos Ghosn, the chief executive of the French and Japanese automakers, in the first formal face-to-face meeting between the two industry titans. The dinner date was arranged after emissaries of GM's largest shareholder, billionaire financier Kirk Kerkorian, suggested the alliance to Ghosn several weeks ago.
After the dinner, the two companies issued a formal statement saying representatives of the three companies would meet to discuss and review "the potential benefits of such an alliance to each company, and the feasibility of achieving them." Although the statement said the teams would meet for about 90 days, a GM insider told Inside Line over the weekend that the internal review was expected to take only 60 days.
Wagoner and Ghosn have said little publicly about the benefits of a possible alliance. In their public statements to the media, Wagoner has appeared reluctant, while Ghosn has seemed confident and eager.
Renault owns 44 percent of Nissan. The company dispatched Ghosn to Japan in 1999 to help rescue the then-floundering Japanese firm. He achieved wild success, rejuvenating the company's moribund product portfolio, slashing debt, restoring profitability and boosting morale.
Wagoner, meanwhile, has been struggling to turn around GM's sliding sales and market share and reverse a series of staggering losses in most major markets, with the notable exception of China.
In an intriguing aside, there has been a flutter of media speculation that Toyota would make a bid for a GM alliance of its own — inspired in part by a Business Week story that said Toyota had "war gamed" such a bid — but Toyota sources this week are denying the automaker has such a plan.
What this means to you: Don't look for Renault cars in Pontiac dealerships any time soon; the two monster egos at the heads of these companies make a possible alliance appear difficult, if not unlikely.
Source: http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do...ticleId=116140
DETROIT — Two captains of industry — one American, the other a Brazilian-born Lebanese multinational — met for dinner here Friday night and agreed to discuss a historic three-way alliance that could link General Motors with Renault and Nissan.
GM Chairman Rick Wagoner dined with Carlos Ghosn, the chief executive of the French and Japanese automakers, in the first formal face-to-face meeting between the two industry titans. The dinner date was arranged after emissaries of GM's largest shareholder, billionaire financier Kirk Kerkorian, suggested the alliance to Ghosn several weeks ago.
After the dinner, the two companies issued a formal statement saying representatives of the three companies would meet to discuss and review "the potential benefits of such an alliance to each company, and the feasibility of achieving them." Although the statement said the teams would meet for about 90 days, a GM insider told Inside Line over the weekend that the internal review was expected to take only 60 days.
Wagoner and Ghosn have said little publicly about the benefits of a possible alliance. In their public statements to the media, Wagoner has appeared reluctant, while Ghosn has seemed confident and eager.
Renault owns 44 percent of Nissan. The company dispatched Ghosn to Japan in 1999 to help rescue the then-floundering Japanese firm. He achieved wild success, rejuvenating the company's moribund product portfolio, slashing debt, restoring profitability and boosting morale.
Wagoner, meanwhile, has been struggling to turn around GM's sliding sales and market share and reverse a series of staggering losses in most major markets, with the notable exception of China.
In an intriguing aside, there has been a flutter of media speculation that Toyota would make a bid for a GM alliance of its own — inspired in part by a Business Week story that said Toyota had "war gamed" such a bid — but Toyota sources this week are denying the automaker has such a plan.
What this means to you: Don't look for Renault cars in Pontiac dealerships any time soon; the two monster egos at the heads of these companies make a possible alliance appear difficult, if not unlikely.
Source: http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do...ticleId=116140
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