German Car Forum

Nissan issues statement on GM after board meeting

Nissan has issued a second statement on the proposed Renault-Nissan-GM alliance (see original report): "The Board of Directors of Nissan Motor Co., Ltd, met today. The meeting was chaired by Nissan President and CEO Carlos Ghosn and included discussion on the events following the initiative taken by Tracinda Corporation regarding General Motors forming a new alliance with Renault and Nissan.

The Board of Directors approved that Nissan should proceed with exploratory discussions concerning a potential alliance with General Motors, if General Motors Corporation supports and endorses the proposal made by its shareholders. The Board of Directors delegated all the necessary powers to the Chairman of the Board, President and CEO, Carlos Ghosn, to conduct any discussions and negotiations on this matter."

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hmm i knew about the Renault-Nissan alliance. But the GM one is definitely new. And what does this mean? That both Renault-Nissan and GM are facing economical problems?

Nissan is doing great

Renault is doing ok

GM makes more than 10 BILLION in losses every year

together they would make more than 25% of ALL cars, and be by far the biggest carmaker in the world.

What I understand of it is that the ball is in GM's hand now. They have to decide what to do, since Carlos like the idea a lot.

I don't even know where to begin with this one. Nissan's comeback is fading every so slightly here in the U.S. and of course GM is dying, literally. I don't know what to make of this yet, seems like a huge mess of an agreement. GM should have enough of this type of nonsense having been made a fool out of by Fiat.

M

My take on this is that GM is going down and Renault and Nissan decided to follow the same course.

I know you were joking, but that is what might really happen if Nissan/Renault really get in to deep with GM. There are already signs that Nisssan's comback aided by Renault is already slowing (at least here in the U.S.). Nissan/Renault must have their eye on a specific part of GM or something in particular that they don't have, what that is I don't know. Otherwise I can't see why they'd want to mess up their success by getting into bed with sickly GM.

M

not good for nissan

This was predicted in Autocar by a writer from the Economist. I might be able to find the article somewhere.

I though Renault were supposed to be the top-selling brand in Europe. GM has to do something like this or it will be dead by the end of the decade .....and I'm not joking.

Ford are looking pretty unwell too .....maybe they will be bought-out by the Chinese government ....stranger things have happened.

Are we talking about a 100% takeover here? I didn't get that by the article.

My understanding of it is that GM's main shareholder wants Renualt and Nissan to both buy 10 percent each of GM and of course give them some cash to get them back to profitability.

M

A few articles on the subject:

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll...27/1148/AUTO01

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll...40/1148/AUTO01

http://www.thecarconnection.com/Auto_News/Auto_News/GM_Talking_Alliance_with_Renault_Nissan.S175.A1062 7.html

M

One article questions what Renault-Nissan has to gain from the alliance. Well firstly, Renault is not sold in the US (Lucky Americans have been spared up until now); an alliance would give Renault much easier access to the US market through GM's dealers etc.

But God, I am just imagining the shared platforms and parts bins

As far as quality is concerned, Nissan have had there fair share of problems, most French cars start falling apart before they even leave the showrooms ..and the American auto-industry as a whole, seems quite directionless.

I don't see what any of them would really gain from this. A sick company joining forces with 2 that just got back to health who are far from being totally of the woods. Nissan/Renault must see something worthwhile there, but what?

M

If Carlos Goshn is able to pull this off he will become a true legend of the world of business! That man has got some guts if he is risking the future of both Nissan and Renault only to save the ghost of what used to be the most powerful carmaker in the world... Who knows what will be of these three companies.

And the plot thickens!

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll...607110388/1148

M

Renault-Nissan and GM Joint Statement: Ghosn & Wagoner to start 90 day study of a potential 3way alliance

Press Release: General Motors, Renault and Nissan today said that an exploratory discussion was held between Carlos Ghosn, President and Chief Executive Officer of Renault, SAS and Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., and Rick Wagoner, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of General Motors, Corp., regarding the possibility of creating an industrial alliance among these three companies. The companies agreed to cooperate in an expeditious, confidential review of the potential benefits of such an alliance to each company and the feasibility of achieving them.

"We had a good discussion today, and are looking forward to having our teams work together to explore our ideas," said Wagoner and Ghosn. "It is important to let our teams work on this review without distraction and, therefore, we will not be providing further public comments about it at this time."

It is expected that this review will take approximately 90 days. Following this review, the companies will consider whether further exploration of the alliance concept is warranted.

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