Comments on: Breaking: KK wants GM/Nissan/Renault

By: Boyd

Boyd — Tue, 04 Jul 2006 11:47:38 +0000

Perhaps instead of ax-ing SAAB, there could be a plan to do away with the ridiculous redundancy of brands within GM itself; I mean do we really need Pontiac or Buick or GM Trucks? It seems to me that there are too many of the EXACT same car (or truck) being sold by one manufacturer to possibly be cost-effective in today’s ultra competitive market.

By: Rich T.

Rich T. — Tue, 04 Jul 2006 07:48:24 +0000

GM basically needs to lose the unions, the health plans and the pensioners to become profitable. If there’s a scheme in this proposed merger to do that, then maybe it’ll work for GM, but I can’t see an upside for SAAB.

By: Ted Y

Ted Y — Sun, 02 Jul 2006 07:54:52 +0000

I don’t know; efficiency experts (Ghosen) tend to scare me. Many of them cut costs by concentrating on production, but cutting R&D, They look good in the short term, but their long term effect is sometimes a death blow to the company. That’s happened many times, and the cost cutter has nothing to lose, he just moves on with his “good” reputation before the ugly end.

By: zippy

zippy — Sat, 01 Jul 2006 21:11:16 +0000

What would GM get out of an alliance with Renault and Nissan? Renault and Nissan need GM about as much as Dolly Parton needs a boob job!

By: Jason

Jason — Sat, 01 Jul 2006 18:09:03 +0000

I don’t know if such a joint merger (without knowing further details) would be a good idea for Saab. Ghosn has a reputation for being a brutal cost cutter, and it’s not clear to me that he would be interested in propping up Saab.

By: eggsngrits

eggsngrits — Sat, 01 Jul 2006 18:07:41 +0000

GM gains the efficiency experts from Nissan, especially Ghosen. Additionally, all of the Nissan plants in the US are NOT organized by the UAW, which could be a sneaky way to get around the stranglehold that labor has on the company.

By: ctm

ctm — Sat, 01 Jul 2006 15:50:57 +0000

Stay clear of Renault. Swedes and Frenchmen can’t work that well togehter (Volvo-Renault, ABB-Alstom…) . The unions in France are extremely nationalistic. If they get involved, the Trollhättan plant is dead within a year and Saab will be making mini-vans, flexi-cars, city-cars whatever-car…

Note: The sale figures for June in Sweden will be presented Monday July 3 at 9.00 AM CET. Two more days wait…

By: Paul Guinnessy

Paul Guinnessy — Sat, 01 Jul 2006 08:56:34 +0000

As I’ve said before, Nissan would be a good match for Saab. For starters, the only minivan on the market with a hint of Saabness is the werid looking Nissan Quest. A re-worked version of that would give Saab dealers something to sell. Overall however, I’m not sure it would be that good a deal for GM. What’s in it for them?