Rumor: Ford and GM merger

[vexor]

Originally Posted by LeftLaneNews.com Executives from Ford and General Motors have discussed a possible merger or alliance, trade publication Automotive News reports in its Monday, Aug. 18, edition. The negotiations began in July after Nissan and Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn broached the possibility of an alliance among Renault, Nissan and GM, according to several sources familiar with the talks. It is not clear who launched the talks. One source says GM CEO Rick Wagoner contacted Ford Motor the day after Ghosn disclosed his plan. A second source disputes that. In August, GM CFO Fritz Henderson discussed the proposed alliance with Ford CFO Don Leclair, said a source familiar with the talks. But it is not at all clear whether the negotiations will bear fruit. As of now, the two companies are not holding talks, and one source says there is a slim chance that anything will come of it. GM spokesman Tony Cervone declined to comment on the report. "We regularly talk to a number of people in the industry regarding business opportunities of mutual interest," Cervone said Friday, Aug. 15. "As a matter of course, we don't comment on any of those because in many cases, they simply don't lead to anything." Ford spokesman Oscar Suris also declined to comment. To complicate things, GM is studying the Ghosn proposal to join the Nissan-Renault alliance. GM is two-thirds of the way through a 90-day study, which it is conducting with Renault and Nissan. Ghosn made his proposal that GM join the Nissan-Renault alliance at the urging of Las Vegas billionaire Kirk Kerkorian, a major GM shareholder.

Originally Posted by MotorAuthority.com It seems that Ford and GM, the two biggest auto manufacturers in North America, have been in talks about a possible merger between the two. Automotive News reports that the talks were held in July after Nissan and Renault broached a separate proposal of an alliance between Renault, Nissan and GM. This merger was urged at the behest of billionaire Kirk Kerkorian, who is a major share holder in GM. No one is sure who launched the talks between Ford and GM, but a source familiar with the project says that the CFO of General Motors Fritz Henderson has discussed the alliance with Ford CFO Don Leclair. The companies are no longer in any negotiations about the merger, so it seems as though the talks may have been in vain. GM’s spokesperson said that most incidents such as this one “don’t lead to anything” which is why they didn’t wish to comment on it. This was the same spiel being rung out by the Ford spokesman. To complicate the issue, GM is still two-thirds of the way through a 90 day evaluation of Renault and Nissan in regards to their proposed merger. The talks between GM and Ford indicate the bad health that the American car market is in. After all, even one of their major share holders is worried enough about the company to be urging them to consolidate with other motor giants, a bad sign in anyone’s books.

[5vz-fe]

As likely as Toyota merging with Honda ~

[Shinigami]

Can such a large automotive company function efficiently... Seems to me like it would be quite a lot of work to keep things running when you've got so many factions and technologies going on.

[Global Douchebag]

AOL and Time Warner made it work. The current largest merger in history.

[gangajas]

That is a recipe for mediocrity

[dutchmasterflex]

Ford wishes ;P