The possible tie-up with Renault-Nissan was urged by investor, Kirk Kerkorian, who recently increased his ownership of GM. Wagoner’s immediate goal, is to sell more vehicles and to reduce costs. He’s currently working on a plan to cut almost $9 billion dollars from labour and manufacturing costs by the end of the year and when asked about a possible merger with Ford, he states “who knows?”
The three companies involved are still in the middle of a 90-day feasibility analysis for the proposed alliance but insiders are claiming that there’s internal resistance coming from GM, and proceedings are not going well. The recent news of a claim for billions of dollars from GM to allow the alliance can only worsen the situation. However, Wagoner states that the meetings are “cordial,” but offered no further comment.