Sources close to Ford Motor Company have communicated CEO Alan Mulally’s lack of interest in merging the Dearborn, Michigan, automaker with General Motors. A source close to Mulally said that Ford and GM had discussed a potential tie-up, but that the talks had never got far because Mulally and Ford were uninterested.
The source told the Detroit News that the discussions were “more an expression of interest, as in, ‘Do you want to talk?’” According to the newspaper, Ford’s answer was simply, “No.”
Mulally has long suggested that Toyota is his model for success. The automaker has thrived as a lean company with close ties between its global operations. Divesting Ford of Jaguar, Land Rover and now possibly Mazda, certainly keeps Ford and Mulally consistent with the Toyota model. Anything other than technology collaborations between Ford and longtime rival GM would be quite contrary to the automaker’s actions so far.
10/13, 9:49 AM
posted by:
jayjc08
Nothing wrong with sharing some technologies, but when it comes down to every car being the same old thing with the same gear… that’s not what capitalism is about.
10/13, 9:59 AM
posted by:
Z06ified
There wouldn’t be an synergies with a Ford/GM merger. It wouldn’t make any sense.
10/13, 11:12 AM
posted by:
johnnycanuck
Upon Ford’s rejection of GM’s proposal, fire crews were called to extinguish a large paper bag which had been set on fire in front of GM corporate headquarters. Once the blaze was out, officials were somewhat baffled by their discovery of the mostly incinerated remains of a Ford Flex.
10/13, 11:59 AM
posted by:
beatusmongous
The old “crap in a burning bag on the doorstep” trick…
10/13, 1:24 PM
posted by:
jimmy8
You know, everyone is so convinced Ford is the 1st of the BIG 3 that is going o go down. Ford has 26 billion of liquid cash in the bank and 15 billion in open credit lines available. It won’t be going anywhere. The thing about Ford is that it has assets worth something. Land Rover, Jaguar, Aston Martin, Mazda, Volvo. These were/are worth something. Pontiac, Buick, Saturn, Hummer, GMC arent worth anything. The only thing Hummer has going for it is the military contract. With the vehicles Ford has in the pipeline and Alan as CEO I would much rather be in Ford’s shoes than either of the other 2. GM just has too much weight to carry with all of the bulk of its brands. At least Ford has valuable brands that it can sell off so it can streamline itself (Mercury aside). The other thing is that Ford owns Ford Credit, and minus the current lease problem, has always been a huge money maker for Ford. GM doesn’t have that advantage with GMAC, and Ford was smart enough not to get involved in the home mortgage mess unlike GMAC.
10/13, 3:01 PM
posted by:
monte
Ford also has several hugh bonds coming to maturaty in the next year that cannot be paid and will have to be finaced, which gm does not have as many in the immediat future.
10/13, 7:57 PM
posted by:
autonut
Ford does what Ford does best: waste cash like a drunken sailor. I doubt that GM would be the one looking to merge. They had very decent proposal from Renault/Nissan just 2 years ago (when their stock was shooting to $38/share).
10/13, 8:21 PM
posted by:
DrFill
Jimmy
GM is set to lose money to the point where they will reach their brass tax (minimum operating capital) of 14 billion dollars next year.
Ford doesn’t need as much, but they are bringing in far less revenue, and are losing money at a greater rate
That phone call may ring forever
Strike 1?
Ford can’t facelift there way out of this dire situation
The F-150 might be Strike 2
The next 18 months will make or break Ford
F-150
Mustang vs Camaro
EcoBoost
May not get to Fiesta
We’ll see.
DrFill
11/25, 1:46 PM
posted by:
idrinorbarsaku
i somewhat agree with jimmy8. if one company should stay, it should be ford. the military contract with gm is overdue. i also think ford has a better line up than gm because they don’t make 4 copies of each car! thats such a waste of money and they deserve to be in the position they are in right now.