GM ( General Motors ) getting a HUGE break?

[Julio]

Nissan & Renault offer them a Deal for all 3 companies to merge...

If GM turns this down they better have something GREAT up there sleeves. Because they are going down hill.

I dont know

[On_Her_Face]

fuck.. if they do, there goes nissan down the drain

[ironchef]

fuck.. if they do, there goes nissan down the drain

Yep , Nissan needs to stay away, and if they have to merge with anyone merge with bmw or something. Then it really will become the ultimate driving machine haha.

[boosted1jz]

i heard they are going to be changing their lineup of vehicles too..... to mostly rear wheel drive

[BigPoppaHurtm]

Iwanna start my own car company. THis shits ridiculous with how automakers cant seem to figure out what ppl want. It must be hard trying to decide whats gonna be popular a few years from know.

[The Ninja]

yea...thats weird....well...

[Vteckidd]

if you read last months forbes there was a great article about this. its been coming for a long time. The CEO of NISSAN has been eyeing FORD an GM for his latest project. He turned Nissan around in just under 4 years.

I wish i could remember what his name was. The guy runs Renault AND nissan, an flys back an forth between the 2 during the week, they say hes the hardest working man in the world

[Julio]

Carlos Ghosn?

[ironchef]

Carlos Ghosn?

Bingo! He really helped turn nissan/infiniti around from the near brink of bankrupcy to where they are now.

[On_Her_Face]

which they are the shit now.

[blacknightteg]

only thing i wouldnt like is like what ford did to mazda, using a lot of their platforms for mazda cars. so if they did that with like nissan, id cry

[Vteckidd]

Carlos Ghosn?

Bingo!

read his biography, really neat an intelligent guy

[Vteckidd]

Heres some reports on him

Carlos Ghosn is known to work upwards of 70 hours a week, jet-setting to and from various continents to monitor an auto empire that he has been lauded worldwide for rescuing.

Ghosn (rhymes with "cone") runs two of the largest car companies in the world -- Nissan Motor Co. and Renault SA, of which he became chief executive officer last April.

Ghosn, 52, is known in the auto industry as a legendary turnaround man for saving nearly bankrupt Nissan in 1999-2001 after Renault bought a controlling stake in the Japanese automaker. He restored profits to Nissan in 2000 and cut the company's $19-billion debt in half in two years.

Nissan and Renault now have combined sales of $133 billion a year, with a net income of $8 billion and 9.7% in market share.

"When you look at his track record, it's certainly impressive in the sense that he did something that no one else had ever done -- a non-Asian becoming a CEO of a Japanese car company," Joe Phillippi, a principal at New Jersey-based AutoTrends Consulting, said Friday. "He had the strong medicine that a then-very sick car company, Nissan, needed to get back on its feet."

Before his position at Nissan, Ghosn worked in virtual obscurity, spending 18 years at the Michelin Group tire manufacturer after graduate school in Paris.

In 1996, Renault tapped him to help cut costs and reverse heavy losses. Forbes magazine says he was nicknamed "Le Cost Killer" because of his overhaul, which included closing a factory and laying off 3,200 workers. He hated the nickname.

"The leader has to be somebody the people ... want to hear from," Ghosn told the Free Press last year.

"He can't be somebody scary or indifferent. The motivational aspect of leadership is very important."

Despite the negative moniker, he built a solid reputation for himself as a get-it-done man. Nissan came calling for help in 1999. Renault offered $5 billion and Ghosn.

Forbes says Nissan's then-president, Yoshikazu Hanawa, now honorary chairman, stepped aside.

Nissan has grappled with weaker sales during the past eight months, and during a shareholder's meeting Tuesday, Ghosn acknowledged it may fall short of its forecast. He said he was confident that a string of new models to be unveiled after Oct. 1 would help improve the bottom line.

But others say that despite his superhero status, he isn't infallible.

"He doesn't walk on water, and he can't fly through the air," said Jim Hossack, an industry analyst with AutoPacific, a consulting firm in California.

"He's intelligent, hard-working and charismatic, but he's not Superman and neither is anybody else," said Hossack, who added that an alliance with GM would give even Ghosn headaches.

"GM is big and complex. ...If you haven't had 25 years at GM learning the quirks of the organization, the unions and the suppliers...this isn't a game you can easily learn," he said.

Maryann Keller, a veteran automotive analyst, agreed that Ghosn, once featured as a comic-book hero in Japan, has run out of tricks.

"I think Kirk Kerkorian thinks Ghosn is a magician, and I don't think he is," Keller said. "He did the obvious things to fix Nissan, but right now, he is struggling with trying to maintain Nissan against Toyota and Honda, and he's not succeeding."

Phillippi said the only way a potential Ghosn merger with General Motors Corp. would work would be for GM Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner to step down.

"They'd have to take over GM -- either 100% or at least 51%, so they are in charge. Carlos is going to have to run the store."

Carlos Ghosn, the troubleshooter charged with reviving Nissan Motor Co. (NSANY), likes to be called the ''Icebreaker.'' It's a nickname he got from DaimlerChrysler Chairman Jurgen E. Schrempp for his skill at ignoring local business practices that stand in the way of making money. The 46-year-old Brazilian-born Ghosn has worked in turnaround situations at Renault in France and at Michelin's U.S. operations. He moved to Nissan in Japan in 1999 and has vowed to quit if the auto maker isn't profitable by March.

His so-called Nissan Revival seems to be working. But Ghosn is definitely an iconoclast. He passes up power breakfasts to stay home and eat with his four kids. He defies Japanese business etiquette and shakes hands with every employee he meets, not just top managers. And he has cut thousands of Nissan jobs, shut the first of five domestic plants, and auctioned off prized assets such as Nissan's aerospace unit. Result? Nissan was in the black for the six months ended in September and expects record profits of $2.3 billion for fiscal 2001.

But his radical moves have made him Public Enemy No. 1 to Japanese traditionalists, not to mention the influential Japan Auto Parts Industries Assn., which has publicly rebuked Nissan's new management. When Ghosn skipped a New Year's party hosted by Nissan's own parts suppliers, it was considered a sign of bad faith. That was ''a good lesson,'' says a chastened Ghosn, who vows to attend the 2001 party.

If the Icebreaker succeeds in restoring Nissan's health, industry talk is that he may return to Renault as its boss. Then he can breach French etiquette.

[StupidBikerBoy]

GM is by far the largest automaker for a reason.

They're not going anywhere.

[JITB]

only thing i wouldnt like is like what ford did to mazda, using a lot of their platforms for mazda cars. so if they did that with like nissan, id cry

that was a good thing all the ford/mazda vehicles were some of fords/mazdas best rated vehicles. 90-94 protege/escor/tracert Probe/mx6 Mazda6/Fusion - Focus/mazda3. what messed gm up anyway? was it the whole union deal that put them under? Because GM is selling alot of cars...i think?

[JITB]

GM is by far the largest automaker for a reason.

They're not going anywhere.

i agree if GM goes than it will hurt our economy pretty bad

[Vteckidd]

the big 3 american auto makers are severly down in profit.

Rising labor costs, greedy unions, better foreign made cars are killing them.

[ironchef]

GM is by far the largest automaker for a reason.

They're not going anywhere.

Its not cause they make good cars, thats for sure.

[Vteckidd]

GM wont go DOWN, they will be taken over, which i see happening VERY soon. Same with FORD.

[2.0civic]

GM wont go DOWN, they will be taken over, which i see happening VERY soon. Same with FORD.

could you imagine the once proud AMERICAN DREAM being ran by foreigners??

[JITB]

the big 3 american auto makers are severly down in profit.

Rising labor costs, greedy unions, better foreign made cars are killing them.

thats what i figured, b/c it seems that domestic companies are selling vehicles.

[blacknightteg]

could you imagine the once proud AMERICAN DREAM being ran by foreigners??

PRAISE THE LORD!!!!

[Julio]

thats what i figured, b/c it seems that domestic companies are selling vehicles.

Down 26% last month.. whos buying them ?

That has been the story at GM over the past year.

[Vteckidd]

Julio must be watching the same FOX NEWS report i am

[Julio]

Julio must be watching the same FOX NEWS report i am

I like reading forbes.com

[JITB]

Down 26% last month.. whos buying them ?

That has been the story at GM over the past year.

i was going off what i see int he street...lol, didnt have any facts with it. But i guess they arent.

[Vteckidd]

forbes FTW!

[Julio]

i was going off what i see int he street...lol, didnt have any facts with it. But i guess they arent.

People are still buying them, but 26 % is a HUGe chunk. Might not look it, but GM is feeling it though.. Month after month.. sucks.

[blacknightteg]

oh, and to top all that off, i dont know if it will effect anything alot. but, from what my dad told me, mercades is planning on bringing the smart car over from Europe. so that might kinda put a kink in american auto makers works as well

[Vteckidd]

smart car is coming soon, its in europe already, there is an add for it in the new TOP GEAR

[blacknightteg]

yeah, i forget when they said they were goin to bring it over, but if i remember it was eitehr goin to be either sometime in 07 or 08

[Stormhammer]

the smart car has been in europe for liek 5 years now... me and 2 frieds picked one up and moved it across the street once in germany... the owner was really confused


anyways - yea, GM sales suck - notice how all the ads are big blow out sales? I can't even think of a big popular selling GM vehicle ( save maybe some chevy trucks? - but dodge pwned ppl in that section, with nissan then toyota ) - GM needs to shape up, and I think alot is going to rely on the new Camaro concept, but... well, I guess time will only tell how well that design is accepted

[tony]

GM is by far the largest automaker for a reason.

They're not going anywhere.

You're not serious right?

Toyota is far ahead of their projections to beat out the big 3 and its inevitable that they will. The big 3 have unions that are bleeding them to death, Toyota, Nissan and Honda do not have to deal with that and they make cars with better quality.

Personally I fear more for Nissan than I do GM in a deal like this.

[Repost Squintz]

if nissan merges w/gm no nissans for me...

[StupidBikerBoy]

You're not serious right?

Umm, yes.

As it stands NOW, GM is still the largest by far.

This may change, but it will take years, not months.

Personally, Im more worried about Nissan also.

[blacknightteg]

GM can EAD

[green91]

GM is by far the largest automaker for a reason.

They're not going anywhere.

The Roman Empire was the largest civilization in the world, and look where it is now..

[Deaf Pimp]

I don't think it's a bad thing. Look at Chrysler/Daimler... they are producing some decent looking cars.

[On_Her_Face]

fuck i need to get my 350z before they merge

[GirlieZ]

im glad i got my z when i did