Hope this ain't a re-post...

http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dl...1/TOC01ARCHIVE

 

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,214290,00.html

 

http://web.camaross.com/forums/showthread.php?t=473259

Beat you by two minutes.

..but you have the original article, so I like yours better.

 

I see it happening possibly. GM and Ford are both hurting HUGE right now. If they can manage to do this in a way that'll let them share resources and lay of say another 30,000 workers, while producing all of the stronger models between their various brands and dumping the weaker models, this could work out to benefit both GM and Ford shareholders.

And before anyone screams anti-trust, keep in mind that GM and Ford both do not stand a chance against Toyota. The American companies may need to merge to survive.

 

That's really wierd, because I looked first......hhhmmmmmm...that ol' interweb can be a tricky one.....

 

I don't see this as an anti-trust issue YET - but if, say, the government were to raise taxes on foreign products so high that buying domestic is all that made sense, and we only have 1.5 car companies to choose from... it could end up that way.

Also, GM is hurting because it is too big for its own good.

I don't think that colaborating and sharing a lot of information and designs would be a bad thing to do between the two, but merging the two companies financially would be a pretty nervy thing to do considering their size is already a problem.

I'm also not really sure what Ford has to offer GM. Ford is screwing everything up. Their 4-cyl and 6-cyl powertrains aren't as good as GM's - their 8-cylinders are arguably just as good but not really better per se. Their transmissions have a bad reputation. Their styling department has sporadically been under the influence of heroin. Their reliability is worse.

I guess I just don't see where they could really serve as a boost to GM.

 

I see no reason why GM would do this. They are actually doing the right thing so far and are easily on the track to profitability while Ford is well......not doing very much well....they would bring GM down very far

 

It would be the end of both companies.

All the loyalists pissed to no end, product overlap like there's no tomorrow, corporate infighting for years over what stays and what goes and what changes . . . .

. . . while the imports laugh themselves silly and lock up the rest of the US market.

Don't do it!

 

I agree 110%!

 

Its freeeeeeeeeeeeeeezing here.....burrrrrrr......

 

It’s a world economics thing...face it we have a hard time competing with the rest of the world on an equal playing field when it comes to making cars. Imports are selling well here and we aren’t necessarily selling well anywhere else…Like many other things we were the innovators, creators, the guru’s of the car. We can no longer say that. Our labor costs are astounding; Regulatory compliance, environmental, ethical and many other things are chocking off our manufacturing ability. We have only just recently focused on providing a product that is high in quality and low in maintenance. Acceptable failure rates, acceptable deviations to standards and designed obsolescence are catching up to us… We would like to think that in today’s world environment the customer drives the market, (hey why else is the Camaro coming back) In part yes to satisfy the customer, the reality is that there is a market for the Camaro and money to be made…Market compotetion is good for the consumer, but expenxive for the maufacturer. Pooling of resoucres is nothing new. Just like Chrysler and Mercedes, to survive, Ford and GM may have to combine just to remain an economically viable business. Corporate businesses survive because of there investors…Corps must make a profit for the investor or the investor will take there money else where..I suspect there will be a lot of shouting overt this one, Ford and Chevy together might make to big of a corp in the US and many economists might view it as a near monopoly….is going to be interesting to watch this saga…Wont be a lack of reading material on this….

 

I think nothing will come of this........BUT, that being said, I think IF it does, it would be more of an "alliance" and NOT a merger.

 

And we all know how well GM's alliance strategy has worked out for them in the past.

I agree that it's a poor idea. Usually mergers or alliances are considered in cases where one company can bring something to the table that other can't. As noted above, there'd be so much overlap that it would take more effort to sort things out than you'd ever have returned in benefits.

Although Ford does have a pony car and we don't ... maybe they can rebody the Mustang and we can finally get a Camaro. And since Mustang is already retro and a combined company wouldn't need two retro pony cars, they could make the Camaro modern. Hey, maybe this alliance would be a good thing after all!

 

as long as it uses the gm powertrain.

 

I don't think we'd ever have to worry about that.....

And I think a distinction has to be made between "Merger" and "Alliance". A GM-Ford alliance could result in collaboration much like what they did together on the 6 speed automatic transmissions. Think of it like that on a much larger scale.

I don't necessarily think an "alliance" or partnership on some things would be all that bad. Heck, GM DCX and BMW are jointly working on a new hybrid powertrain. Cross-sharing of engines, platforms, etc. is quite another thing. I would probably spit nails if I had to see an LSx in a Mustang. And a full-blown merger would be even worse.