Breaking: GM and CHRYSLER Hold Preliminary Merger Talks

[mikesright]

Originally Posted by drew770

The only concern I have in this almost plan is what will happen to Ford? This will surely force Ford into a competitor's hands.
Honda which has always been very conservative with mergers will be looking into Ford's pockets. Don't forget Fiat or Volkswagen.
Do we really want Ford in foreign hands? It was bad enough to see Chrysler fall apart under Mercedes.

As much as I am a GM fan I have great loyality to American brands such as Ford. I would hate to see Ford under foreign ownership.

I would rather see our government inject massive capital into Ford and GM so these types of plans ie mergers will not be necessary.

Doubtful that Ford sells out to anybody. The Ford family has veto power over any merger with their supervoting shares, plus Ford has the capital and the assets to survive, in all likelihood.

[doh]

Originally Posted by mikesright

Doubtful that Ford sells out to anybody. The Ford family has veto power over any merger with their supervoting shares, plus Ford has the capital and the assets to survive, in all likelihood.

And may use it to "Do what is right for the family name" rather than what is right for the company.

Coming from 13 years selling GM's to selling Ford's in 2003, I can tell you Ford seriously need more cars, fuel miserly cars. A merger of Ford and Nissan-Reanault would fix 85% of Ford's and Nissan's problems in one swoop.

[bmwboy2007]

I think this could be win-win for both, if properly managed. (Big 'if')

Chevrolet could be a stand alone, Pontiac-Dodge-Buick could co-exist, Chrysler can shed the smaller vehicles and move upscale, a sub-Cadillac of sorts, CADILLAC-CHRYSLER,..

Alternately, you could merge Pontiac, Dodge, and Saturn, and bring CHRYSLER-BUICK together..Jeep could replace HUMVEE, or be sold alongside it. GMC and RAM could be sold side by side, I don't think the customers would care what else is on the lot so long as they can get what they're looking for.. Saturn and Saab could go together as well.., but it's going to be a messy process, whatever they do.

[bmwboy2007]

After the GENERAL MOTORS-CHRYSLER merger, a hockey game in hell.

[camaro_freak]

bad idea... what cars will stay.. what will go? Will the Chrysler brands stay independent or will we just start seeing Sebrings on Chevy lots?

Dealers are droppng like flies right now, they aren't giong to have the coin to rebrand themselves and start merging even more dealerships. This spells nothing but CARNAGE if it occurs.

[TORRED1]

If GM purchases Chrysler, then wouldn't the circle be complete, Didn't Walter P Crystler leave GM to start Chrysler. what a turn of events

[dindak]

Just as with other distractions, GM needs to just say no.

Chrysler is in more trouble than GM.

[gmlr]

The hedge fund that brought them is just trying to get out and make a buck. They ended leasing at Chrysler and de facto ended it at GM, They want out of the car business and will shut every Chrysler factory to do it. If they can get a bank that may make money GMAC and end the headache of making cars its a win win for the hell dog. GM does not need all the divisions it has now, so why merge to save Chrysler from the pit. The Chrysler stores are taking 50% off the price and still cannot sell the steel. When Chrysler Oct sales come out they are going to scream, GM sales are very good the first 10 days of the month of Oct. Oil is $77 dollars a barrel and going down due to speculators leaving the market due to margin calls and fear. Unleaded gas is around $1.80 a gallon on the market. Pickup sales will be good with gas at the pump in the low $2 range in about 3 weeks.

[zabraden]

Wow... just wow. Any way you look at this, someone is going to get screwed. I have a feeling the Chrysler and Dodge brands will be picked over and dumped. Sad, but it's either them or Pontiac/Buick/GMC, which is a better investment, IMO. I see no feasible way that these two can coexist. Sad but true. I would love to see Jeep in GM's hands, as well as a few other assets that Chrysler brings, but I would feel bad if it was at the cost of Chrysler itself.

[chaseabryant]

Originally Posted by Ming

A merged HP and Compaq when both were in trouble ultimately made for a stronger whole.

I also see an opportunity for a name change, and along with it, an image change.

While we might like them, the names "General Motors" and "Chrysler LLC" carry a lot of baggage and have a negative image in the eyes of many Americans who have moved on to imports.

The new company name could be one that invites nostalgia and the image of the best of both brands but does not carry on the negatives.

Of course the popular brand names like Chevrolet, Jeep, Cadillac and a select few others would need to stay.

The merger would be an opportunity to take the strongest elements from both (hello, minivans?) and eliminate the weakling brands and overlap product.

Having both GMC and Dodge truck divisions on top of Chevy trucks would make little sense, for instance.

They could become AMC!

[Buick Riviera]

Originally Posted by adplusone

The investment boys that bought Chrysler only want GM's share of GMAC.

All that federal bailout money for crapy DiTech Dot COm adjustable rate and home equity loans (remember owned by GMAC) will make their Chrysler deal a money maker.

This has nothing to deal with steel, rubber and glass...it is a 110% financial services play.

Thank you, right on the money!!!

[ghughes]

youre forgetting how carlos ghosn is working with chrysler- this may be another attempt to merge nissan, chry and gm

[wildgoosechase]

While everyone likes to speculate how the Chrysler divisions would fit into GM's distribution we forget that dealers really dictate the product line up on the floor. Chrysler will continue to create superstores with Dodge, Chrysler and Jeep under one roof. It should remain so as well, the alternative is a dealer revolt and lawsuits that make the Oldsmobile debacle seem mild. The benefit to buying Chrysler is in sharing components and dare I say, badge engineering. Why should the next Sebring be on a Nissan chassis when the Malibu's will work just fine. Chrysler will lose the right to build Sprinters soon enough, why develop a full size van when you can slap the Ram on an Chevy and call it good. Why develop a new full size truck from scratch when the new Ram is a great base to start from? Cars are becomming like computers, the only difference is the box, the days of a brand having unique components are done.

[Gm786]

The only possible benefit I see from GM merging or taking over Chrysler is that Cerberus would take over the rest of the stake GM has in GMAC and they would also be capable of fixing the financial problems GM has. Hopefully.... Other than that, I don't really see GM benefiting that much from acquiring Chrysler aside from the fact that they would be getting full control of Jeep along with Dodge. Jeep would benefit GM as an off-road vehicle division since they are selling off Hummer. Maybe GM may transform Jeep into Hummer but only with vehicles that achieve much better gas mileage but perform and off-road as good? It may be possible, actually it's completely possible for GM to do such a thing but either way as I stated previously, I don't see GM benefiting that much from this proposed merger or takeover. I or I should say "we" may be proven wrong but it doesn't hurt to speculate a bit.

[neqqy]

Originally Posted by Buickman

on the other hand the merger would make sense...only need one bankruptcy case rather than two.

I guess when this is all over and the American auto industry as we know it ceases to exist, you can pat yourself on the back and say ‘I told you so’. It is true that GM cannot even manage its own house much less the train wreck this pairing would create. This is just an attempt by Cerberus to get out from under Chrysler and any cash gained by GM in the deal would be burned through before completion of the merger. The HP Compaq marriage survived largely because of the leadership of Mark Hurd but the only way to infuse that kind of talent into GM is if golden-parachutes start flying. Wall Street pessimism over the successful chances of such a merger may make it even more difficult to restructure a combined entity. The few shareholders left should be screaming.

Can we really afford to lose these companies? If the market looks bad now, imagine the tsunami wave of worldwide unemployment such failure would create.