General Motors has denied that it has been approached by Toyota, after press reports over the weekend that the Japanese motor giant was preparing a plan to counter discussions between GM and Nissan/Renault with its own approach to the US company.

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A report by BusinessWeek on Saturday (15 July) said that executives at Toyota were investigating an approach to GM in the wake of Friday’s talks between the US group and Nissan/Renault.


Quoting “sources close to Toyota”, BusinessWeek said the company is considering different opportunities that they could propose to GM.


“Toyota has no interest in seeing an alliance like this [linking Renault, Nissan and GM] take place,” an executive who asked not to be identified was quoted by the magazine as saying.


But, speaking to Dow Jones, a GM spokesperson said: “I am not a spokesperson for Toyota, and so I cannot deny something they purportedly are doing. GM is not contemplating any link-up with Toyota as a result of the Renault/Nissan discussions, nor has it been approached to do so.”

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The news of a possible counter deal comes only a day after initial talks began between the CEOs of GM and Nissan/Renault, Rick Wagoner and Carlos Ghosn.


In a joint statement released late Friday (14 July) General Motors, Renault and Nissan said that the companies had agreed to co-operate in an “expeditious, confidential review of the potential benefits of such an alliance to each company and the feasibility of achieving them.”


“We had a good discussion today, and are looking forward to having our teams work together to explore our ideas,” said Wagoner and Ghosn. “It is important to let our teams work on this review without distraction and, therefore, we will not be providing further public comments about it at this time.”


It is expected that this review will take approximately 90 days. Following this review, the companies will consider whether further exploration of the alliance concept is warranted.