Could Toyota beat Nissan/Renault to the punch?

Forget Carlos Ghosn and Renault-Nissan... if you're going to sell out, do it right. According to BusinessWeek, Toyota Motor Company is none too excited to see any kind of partnership between Renault-Nissan and GM, let alone a 20-percent stake in GM for Ghosn's company. An alliance, which GM CEO Rick Wagoner and Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn are mulling over for the next 90 days, could range anywhere from sharing engineering to a full-blown partnership that includes sharing platforms, engines, manufacturing capacity and more.

While nothing has been uttered publicly about a deal between Toyota and General Motors, there are whispers floating around that the rapidly-growing Japanese company might be able to make GM an offer it can't refuse -- without buying an equity stake, which is something Toyota typically avoids, according to BW. Toyota would instead focus on joint ventures, sharing technology and engineering capabilities, and other plans that may be closer to what GM needs to get out of trouble.

[Source: BusinessWeek via MSNBC]

Share This Photo X