GM is being pushed to ally itself with two other automotive giants (rtenault and Nissan). If a merger took place, the result would be a giant company, bigger than anything ever seen. Would such an entity also be efficient? Or would combining french, japanese, and American cultures result in a huge mess? I get the feeling that this might be GM’s last chance to survive-and big shareholders 9like kirk kerkorian) are pushing for it.
So, would such a merger make sense? 
“General Motors is like a glacier. It goes where it wants, in its own slow, deliberate way, and anyone standing in the way is ground into gravel.” That’s the way I described it all through my 34 years there. It isn’t so true anymore, though. GM is in trouble, for various reasons. Things haven’t been this bad since Willy Durant had to surrender control to Dupont and the banks. They need capital urgently.
Renault and Nissan were already knit together, and I don’t know much about that deal. Apparently, they are in a position to make a cash transfusion in exchange for gaining a huge marketing network and whatever prestige GM still has to offer.
When Daimler-Benz and Chrysler merged, it was sold as equal footing between the two managements. It didn’t turn out that way. For better or worse, Daimler-Chrysler is now run by the Daimler guys. Will that happen at GM? There’s a good chance it will.
A couple of decades or so ago, GM went through major convulsions to try to do things the Japanese way. With all the money they spent on it, they could have bought Toyota entirely. That was then, this is now.
Lots of things are strangely merged. A Jaguar, under the skin, is a lot like a Ford. Some Ford models were designed at Mazda. The Chrysler Crossfire, underneath, is an obsolete Mercedes. As a GM retiree, I can get a discount on a Saab. Maybe, next year, I can get a deal on a Nissan or a (shudder) Renault.
I would have no idea why Renault/Nissan would want to buy somebody else’s problems. To me, the obvious response is “What part of ‘HELL FREAKING NO’ did y’all not understand?”
i’m not compeletely up to date on the details of the deal, but I understand that they are looking foran “alliance”, not an outright merger. In the same way that Renault and Nissan are currently allied.
If they bring out a retro 1995 style Buick Skyline I will buy it.
There would be a kind of poetry in the world’s three biggest automotive losers joining “forces.”