As the CEOs of General Motors and Renault-Nissan gear up for their much anticipated meeting today (14/7), speculation surrounding the structure of any possible alliance between the motoring giants continues to mount.
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The meeting between Rick Wagoner and Carlos Ghosn comes a week after the board of GM agreed to engage in exploratory discussions with Renault and Nissan regarding GM’s potential participation in an alliance among the three companies.
Neither side has so far commented on the schedule for today’s meeting. However, Ghosn appeared to use the media yesterday to diffuse potential opposition to the deal.
In an interview with CNBC, the CEO of Nissan-Renault, ruled out the idea that he would also become head of GM through any deal struck.
“I’m not going to run any other third company. That’s not what is at stake here,” Ghosn said. “What is at stake here is building an alliance with a third company and supporting this company.”
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By GlobalDataHe added: “I’m saying categorically it’s out of the question that I’ll add on top of my two present responsibilities, which is being CEO of Renault and Nissan, another one.”
Ghosn went on to hint that a tie-up between the three groups could also save jobs in the US. He explained that Nissan needed more production capacity in the US, and rather than invest in new plants, Nissan could use GM’s closed down plants to build its vehicles.
”I think if we agree on an alliance, well, you may stop some of the job losses and you may probably reduce some of the plant closings, for a very simple reason. Let me give you an example. Nissan needs more capacity in North America,” he said.
As reported in just-auto, earlier this week Ghosn said he had ruled out a hostile approach to GM if a tie-up does not result from talks between the companies. However he added that if an alliance does result, it would be necessary to take a stake in GM. He ruled out zero participation “because if an agreement seems informal, it won’t last. Financial participation is a sort of obligation.”
In his interview yesterday, Ghosn said he had not had talks with Ford about an expanded alliance of the kind being discussed with General Motors.
