Dumb idea for Hyundai to go in with pretty much anyone else, except possibly Mitsubishi, since they both have prior ties.

Both Hyundai and Mitsubishi got "slapped hard" in their prior relationship with Daimler-Chrysler, and all such ties are minimized if not cut now.

If Hyundai "insisted" on a larger group of collaborators, what about Mitsubishi AND Peugeot (which includes Citroen)? Peugeot/Citroen are pretty much "only" super-strong in old-man Europe, with a few bright spots in places such as African nations, whereas Hyundai and Mitsubishi have broad acceptance in much of the world.

Plus Peugeot are working on a hybrid diesel systems, whereas Hyundai are working on gasoline hybrid systems - they could collaborate. Chassis pans could be shared, costs reduced. Peugeot's excellent diesel technology could be utilized. Mitsubishi's great turbo technology could be utilized. Hyundai's quality and low cost technologies, as well as formidable design abilities, could be utilized.

Plus, Hyundai (and Kia) could move farther away from their troublesome South Korean workforce and move production of the Elantra (for example) to Mitsubishi's Normal, Illinois plant, utilizing their engine designs now being built in Dundee, Michigan by the co-owned DCX/Mitsu/Hyundai engine plant there.

This would also give Hyundai the option of bringing in an up-market Euro-brand (Peugeot) into the US.

Or, do you guys and gals out in autoblog land think a Hyundai - FIAT tie-up would make more sense?

Hyundai owning Ferrari? Wow. I'd laugh my ass off.

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I think Hyundai merging with anyone is silly at this point. They're doing pretty well on their own and hitching their wagon to an ailing automaker like Mitsubishi would be a bad move. Now, if Hyundai got into a joint agreement with another automaker to share some technologies, kind of like what they were doing with DCX and Mitsubishi, and not an out-and-out merger, then that might be beneficial. But I think Hyundai's doing so well on their own that they don't need to shack up with anyone else.

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I see all upside for Mitsubishi in something like that. Has anyone driven the current Galant - the Sonata is far supirior in quality & design. I don't see what Hyundai would gain from it, I think it would be better for Hyundai to look in Europe.

James

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"They're doing pretty well on their own and hitching their wagon to an ailing automaker like Mitsubishi would be a bad move."

It's funny how Mitsubishi was actually profitable before the Diamler "merge". They tanked while they were doing "joint ventures" with Diamler.

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#3

"I don't see what Hyundai would gain from it"

Oh, just a little something called Japan's 4TH BIGGEST automaker.

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Coming VW - DCX

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An interesting alliance to me, would be Hyundai, Mitsubishi, Suzuki and Izuzu. Not a combined merger of the four, but a alliance like mentioned in prior posts to leverage research/development, buying power, and dealing with unions and suppliers in a powerhouse manner.

They would all bring some credible stuff to an alliance, and still be allowed to develop their own paths in the world as I wouldn't want to see their distinctions go away.

I found it interesting that we are only thinking and discussing of mergers with other "car manufacturers" and not discussing buyouts by major companies. Let's not forget that Subaru is owned by Fuji Heavy Industries, Mitsubishi Motors by obviously Mitsubishi, but Diahatsu and Hyundai are not simply vehicle manufacturers either.

What would one think of General Electric or some other company buying a huge chunk of a said auto manufacturer and running it like a real business.

I think that scenario is more possible and easier to swallow than a merger with someone else.

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I can see Hyundai gaining two things from a merger with Mitsubishi.

1 - U.S. production capacity. Mitsubishi might not have many facilities in the U.S., but they'd certainly be cheaper to re-tool and share than for Hyundai to build new plants from scratch. This is one of the primary reasons for Nissan's interest in GM.

2 - Mitsubishi's powertrain and chassis skills. Mitsubishis, as a whole, are usually plagued with bad product decisions, but they do good engines--the Lancer Ralliart's 2.4-liter Four, for example, would do wonders for the Elantra/Spectra, Tucson/Sportage, and 4-cyl Sonata/Optima. Slightly coarse engines and suspension tuning are one of the few things keeping Hyundai from achieving real parity with Honda and Toyota.

Combine Hyundai's strengths in interior quality and value-for-money with Mitsubishi's knack for pleasing mechanical sensations, and the results could be impressive.

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Does anyone know if the "Mitsubishi Corporation" that owns Mitsubishi Motors are willing to do something like this?

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Hyundai Motor Group should probably not merge with anyone, much less Mitsubishi. They're about to get expelled from Car High School, and Hyundai is well on it's way to being valedictorian. Hyundai doesn't NEED to merge with anyone. Not only that, but grouping with other makers, no one can name an alliance that would be -obviously- advantageous to the automaker.

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RE: 6. Coming VW - DCX

VW is already owned in large part by the German Government and Porsche and every chance Porsche gets they buy up more. I'd say their not looking.

---

Hyundai needs to stick it out on their own, they used to suck but their getting better, they have a bright future and are making some genuinly competitive if not class leading (in every area except brand image) cars.

5th by 2010? it could happen, I used to think they were nuts but the whole new draft of cars is VERY impressive. Now if only they stop trying to make their name sound ever more like "Honda" in the ads.

I remember when it was hi-un-day with a heavy Korean accent now their up to hon-day with a clean american accent. Seriously who do they think their fooling? I think they'd have better luck convincing the world Korean cars are good than convincing people that their Japanese.

--Noah

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People forget that Hyundai/kia plans have been on hold because of their bosses and Union problems. They were supposed to be move Hyundai upscale, but not with putting $4000 incentives on Sonatas. Kai can't take their place until they do move up, it cost alot more money for them to build cars here. Mitsubishi has been selling them technology for years.

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Ryan

Just FYI: Mitsubishi Corporation (MC) does not "own" Mitsubishi Motors. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is the biggest shareholder (16%?) and MC is next in line with 13%(?).

Honestly I think that Mitsubishi Motors is too overwhelmed by its own recovery efforts to think about a new partnership. Also, the culture within the company still holds a lot of bitterness toward DaimlerChrysler, who basically railroaded MMC into some very bad deals (witness the Raider -- their parting shot).

MMC needs to get rid of excess capacity, so I think a limited partnership is possible on those grounds, but I can't imagine that the benefits would outweigh the cost of retooling the plants (U.S., Australia). I have never driven a Hyundai so I don't know, but how are the interiors? Mitsu often gets slammed for having boring interiors (not so with the new Outlander), so if Hyundai has something to contribute there, it might be well received.

The Peugeot/MMC/Hyundai thing sounds interesting. Hyundai is trying to make a name in rallying (ostensibly to improve performance) and Peugeot and Mitsubishi certainly know their way around that circuit. Peugeot is about to release a small SUV which is actually the MMC Outlander (the new 2007 version) being provided on an OEM basis. http://media.mitsubishi-motors.com/pressrelease/e/corporate/detail1302.html

Maybe there's a future here?

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Anyone else think these auto mergers suck for consumers?

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"The culture within Mitsubishi Motors still holds a lot of bitterness toward Daimler/Chrysler, who basically railroaded MMC into some very bad deals (witness the Raider -- their parting shot)."

Well, turnabout is fair play -- after all, Mitsubishi used Chrysler/Plymouth vehicles to field-test and fine tune their engines before entering the US market with their own vehicles. Remember the awful 2.6 litre 4-cylinder engines in all those K-cars, with their frequently blown valve cover & head gaskets and burned-out ignition modules?

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We currently own THREE Hyundais, I personally drive a 2005 tiburon v6 with a 6 speed and i already have over 80k miles on it and never had to take it to the shop and the design and upgradeability of the car is remarkable. The only way i can see hyundai as becoming better is not merging with another car maker, but buying out or creating a Sports Tuner division. Much like Mitsu's Ralliart, Toyota's TRD, the Ford Cobra or Dodge's Mopar division. IF Hyundai also got on the ball and released factory supercharged tiburons or something like a Santa Fe "Baja Edition" they could easily crush all their competition. Tiburons have been a joke in the Kid crowd for a while but a couple companies have released supercharges with AMAZING results.

Merging with Mitsu would mean that Hyundai might end up putting less than par transmissions and engines into their cars which would ruin one of the best aspecsts about the company, its reliability. Their number one problem is underpowered engines.

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