It is unlikely that a merger between GM and Renault could take place. The corporate boards on both companies are likely to be both defensive and distinct about their respective ways of doing business. Also, there’s much too much pride wrapped up in GM for the company to become subservient in any way to an international partnership. If that were to happen, it would be truly unprecedented.

Again, what does GM have to gain from such an alliance?

not going to happen unless GM gets desparate.. which they aren’t

I agree with GL1. As someone pointed out on this forum a few days ago on this subject, GM has nothing to gain from such an alliance; what Carlos Ghosn did for Nissan has already been done at GM, namely massive worker cuts. It seems to me the hard part has already been done at GM, and their product team seems to be going full speed ahead, so now all that’s left to do is sit back and hope Americans go for what they’re coming up with. So far, the Cobalt and HHR are a big hit, the new Impala seems to be selling quite well, EVERYBODY wants the new Camaro when it comes out, and I hear that Chevy is working on a new, rear-drive retro Impala for ‘08 or ‘09. So if the new, ‘08 Malibu looks good, GM should be alright. Plus, I hear that neither Nissan nor Renault is doing particularly well at the moment either, so I’m not sure what they could offer GM that they don’t already have.

I REALLY don’t want GM to go down the tubes. Ford either, for that matter. I mean, can you imagine a world with General Motors and Ford?

I think the basic idea here is that two wrongs make a right.

neither gm nor ford have been in particularly good business situations since… i dunno, the late 70s. and it’s only gotten worse lately. as i understand it, renault-nissan hasn’t been as profitable as they were relatively recently, so the idea is that two (or more) struggling companies can come together to prop-up one another.

at this point i could really care less about what happens to gm. looking at their recent line-up (over the last 15 or so years) interesting and desirable cars have been few and far between. to make matters worse, the people i know who have owned gm cars have had nothing good to say about them. so it worries me when i hear that gm is considering an alliance with anybody, because i assume they’re out to destroy a potentially interesting car company.

could somebody please explain to me what exactly is epic about the epica? or why the plastic panels in a 70,000 dollar automobile can’t fit together properly?

i don’t know if chevrolet runs the “johnny” ads elsewhere in the world (namely the us), but they’re on tv here in canada and they are the absolute worst ads i’ve ever seen. essentially, gm has inadvertantly produced a collection of 30-second spots explaining exactly what’s wrong with their company and their products.

i wouldn’t necessarily describe myself as a fan of ford, but looking at the company as a whole, they have some significantly better vehicles in their line-up than gm does. so, i don’t actively dislike them they way i dislike gm.

/no

Don’t worry nowei, these ads were created only for Canada by a senile old man by the name of Pierre Cloutier owner of the worst GM dealership in the region of Montreal. And he’s proud of it…. And his dealership is about to go bankrupt…lollll By the way the ads are really not what GM’s standing is right now.. maybe when cavaliers were still getting delivered but not at this point of time.

What does GM gain? Access to small diesel motors. Renault and Nissan have them. GM doesn’t.

@IndianaJones,
If GM needs small diesel engines, GM can buy small diesel engines. It is hardly novel for automakers to go outside their companies to buy engines. Chrysler has purchased engines from Volkswagen. Ford has used engines from Kawasaki. Jaguar and Chrysler have used engines from GM.

-> Richard, Those motor purchases were short-term or low-volume purchases. GM and Ford need major change in direction since the large SUVs and pickups have hit the wall. Neither company has the cash to buy millions of small diesels (or hybrids), so the alternative is to sell part of the company. A major by-product of the Renault-Nissan merger (or alliance) was the development of a new line of small diesels. As we all know, the bucks to develop new motors is far greater than tooling up a Neon and calling it a Cobalt.

If GM didn’t rape and pillage Isuzu to near destruction, they wouldn’t have a competitive diesel in any class.

Ohh jeez, they used “synergies” in the story. With that kind of corporate retard jargon this can only be a crappy deal.

GM is developing its own Diesel engine now, as their previous Isuzu-sourced one had notorious reliability problems and couldn’t compete with the other big dogs.