The Detroit News' David Shephardson picked up some interesting quotes from Nissan-Renault Chairman Carlos Ghosn today.
In a panel organized by the Council on Foreign Relations, Ghosn was asked about the partnership the Nissan-Renault alliance sought to form with General Motors back in 2006 (talks were called off in October of that year). GM would have been far better off had this gone through, he said.
"Without any doubt. We knew fundamentally that this would work, but only if it was a collaborative effort."
It's important to keep in mind, he said, that GM and Nissan (and other automakers) are already unofficially link by common suppliers. "When General Motors was in danger, everybody was scared. We were scared. Because some of our suppliers are big suppliers of General Motors. If they go down, we would not have been able to assemble any single car in the United States."
Ghosn said he takes no joy in seeing the state of GM in 2009. "When you see the disaster and the waste of energy and skills and talent, nobody can be happy."
He further argued that consolidation is inevitable in the automotive industry, because there are too many players vying for a slice of a shrinking market.
Detroit News -- Ghosn: General Motors should have joined team in 2006
albook says:
02:00 PM, 11/19/09
Um...GM did declare bankruptcy, but Nissan isn't doing so well either. THat would be an even bigger mess.