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SOUND OFF: GM and Chrysler In Merger Talks, Is This Good Or Bad For The Industry?
General Motors is in preliminary talks about a possible merger with Chrysler, a deal that could drastically remake the landscape of the auto industry by reducing the Big Three of Detroit automakers to the Big Two.

The talks between G.M. and Cerberus Capital Management, the private equity firm that owns Chrysler, began more than a month ago, and the negotiations are not certain to produce a deal. Two people close to the process said the chances of a merger were “50-50” as of Friday and would most likely still take weeks to work out.

A merger would be a historic event, with two of the most iconic names in American industry coming together to survive in an increasingly difficult environment. Both have roots dating back decades in Detroit and, with Ford, long dominated the auto industry — until Japanese and other foreign car makers began making inroads into the American market.


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SOUND OFF: GM and Chrysler In Merger Talks, Is This Good Or Bad For The Industry?



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AmazonPrinceIS350AmazonPrinceIS350 - 10/14/2008 10:03:40 AM
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All three of them should merge instead (GM Chrysler Ford) so they can become one of those three headed creatures in the Godzilla movies.

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M35MTM35MT - 10/14/2008 12:56:44 PMView My AgentSpace
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Funny you mention that, because I believe Cerberus is a 3-headed dog that gaurds the gates of hell.


2ndbimmer2ndbimmer - 10/14/2008 10:27:23 AM
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I think it wouldnt be bad. They do need to start downsizing how much overlap they have in their products. Like GM really needs 3 identical vehicles with just different badges. For example, when they had the:
GMC jimmy
Chevy blazer
oldsmobile bravada

Was that necessary? As long as they stop that type of building, they can cut a lot of costs and create a demand for 1 vehicle and stop competing against themselves.
I hope the make it!

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carguy68carguy68 - 10/14/2008 10:42:26 AM
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Mabe they can make one good company out of this.

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Agent009Agent009 - 10/14/2008 10:48:42 AMView My AgentSpace
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GM has too many brands and taking on Mopar's two brands make no sense. Now Chrysler could use GM's small cars to help it survive but other than cash where does this help GM?


jgf330xijgf330xi - 10/14/2008 11:40:14 AM
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Chrysler needs to go away.

There are only three items of interest to GM or anyone..

Jeep== ICONIC brand needs to survive, Sell to GM tom combine with Hummer (finally the law suit over the grill will be settled)

Minivan == Dying market share, sell to VW and return the Minivan to its inventor, and Iconic history. VW ALready uses the Mopar MInivan for their Minivan

Viper== iconic again, but is it worth saving? Maybe to a small private company

The rest is basically junk and time to enter history, and the museum..

The Europeans need to manufacture here in the USA given the exchange rate so sell the factories to them.. FIAT, Alfa, Etc gives them a way into the market






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Type707Type707 - 10/14/2008 1:00:56 PM
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I think the process of this merger would serve as a double-edge sword. It would be good for the two companies to create innovations on what problems they need to target which is "RELIABILITY" on their vehicles. The poison part of the merger is cutting and slimming down the job positions...

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rockerrocker - 10/14/2008 4:58:52 PM
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I remember hearing in the late '90's that in the future there would be 3 car conglomerates. On owned by Mercedes(cannot even turn around Chrysler), one owned by Nissan(there downturn was even quicker than their turnaround) and one owned by Hyundai(how many legal issues can a car company have). Funny how the world changes and all the fortune tellers are completely wrong.

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TTRaceRRTTRaceRR - 10/16/2008 1:31:10 AM
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rocker, You are either too young to remember or just ignorant. Daimler did "turn around" Chrysler, except they turned a once profitable, efficient and innovative company into a money loser after raping the company, trimming them down to nothing and cutting them loose.


freeagentfreeagent - 10/14/2008 10:10:49 PM
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This is a slow motion train wreck. The two of them will be consumed for years sorting out who's in charge of what, which designs/suppliers/systems /alliances/etc/etc the combination will proceed with, dealing with the UAW and other parties of layoffs and combined contracts, and so on. Mean while their tenuous changes of survival will slip away as competitors continue to eat their lunch. They will become toast - even more so than now - and then line up to Obama for "help". A disaster.

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AudiphileAudiphile - 10/15/2008 12:58:44 AM
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I have read that Cerberus really wants to have the GM and Chrysler financing company, and is not interested in the manufacturing part of either company.

Frankly, there is enough redundancy in GM's product line already. Counting SAAB, there are 8 GM brands being sold in this country. Pontiac passenger cars compete with both Buick and Chevrolet, and Saturn competes with Saab. The trucks and SUVs of Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, and Hummer compete with each other as well. Then we have so-called "crossover" vehicles from Buick, GMC and Saturn that compete with each other. I'm probably leaving out some additional redundancy, but this badge engineering is bad enough as it is.

Chrysler would bring very little to the table. Its full-size cars, muscle cars, pickups and minivans are still competitive in their shrinking markets, but the rest of its models are also-rans. Dodge would compete with Chevy and Pontiac, Chrysler would compete with Buick, and Jeep would compete with Chevy, GMC, and Hummer. Maybe GMC could keep the iconic Jeep line and dump Hummer, but the rest of the Chrysler lineup would do them no good.

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Agent63Agent63 - 10/15/2008 9:56:26 AMView My AgentSpace
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Big III would the big II instead.

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