WSJ speculates about Renault-Nissan taking stake in GM

[Haltech]

Filed under: GM, Nissan, Earnings/Financials, Renault, Rumormill



Rumors that Renault-Nissan may be interested in taking on a third head have popped once again, with the would-be merger candidate this time being General Motors. Huh, sounds familiar, doesn't it? In actuality, The Wall Street Journal is really just speculating on the possible effects of such a deal, and it's done so with all kinds of number crunching and colorful pie charts.

The lone quote from Renault-Nissan head Carlos Ghosn that seems to have sparked the article: "The name of the game is scale and co-investments and sharing technologies." That's a common thread from Ghosn and most recently stated at the Geneva Motor Show earlier this month.

After reading through the article, it seems possible that such a merger could make sound business sense for the Franco-Japanese automaker for a couple of reasons. First is Ghosn's seemingly insatiable appetite for large-scale synergies. Second, the two automaker's sales footprints appear to be rather complimentary. Finally, Renault-Nissan has enough cash reserves and holdings on hand that it could afford to purchase a 10-percent stake in the American automaker when it hopefully goes public again in early 2011.

So, does any of this have an actual chance of happening? We have absolutely no idea, but that hardly seems to matter - we're always up for a little speculation when it comes to our favorite topic of conversation. As always, questions, comments and snide remarks can be left in "Comments." What say you? Does Renault-Nissan-General Motors have a nice ring to it?

[Source: The Wall Street Journal | Image: Raveendran/AFP/Getty]WSJ speculates about Renault-Nissan taking stake in GM originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 12 Mar 2010 19:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.



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