QOTD: Ghosn Fishing?

Robert Farago
by Robert Farago

Why in the world would General Motors want to hitch their wagon to Renault – Nissan? Synergy? Don't make me laugh. I reckon the answer is simple: GM's Board of Bystanders and CEO Rabid Rick Wagoner aren't interested in hooking-up with Carlos "The Jackal" Ghosn's mob. They gotta pretend to be interested on account a due diligence. Lest we forget, Kirk "The Quiet Lion" Kerkorian launched this whole cockamamie scheme to inflate GM's stock price so he could recoup his $1b loss. Done. But now Nissan says it ain't giving GM a dime, no matter what. Which takes the deal from dumb to dumberer ('cause the one thing GM could use from the Franco-Japanese conglomerate is cash money.) OK, great. But here's my question: why did Nissan – Renault play along with Kirk in the first place? Do we really believe Carlos' claim that he wants to bulk-up against Toyota? Did Kirk promise him a shot at running the world's largest potential bankruptcy? I'd appreciate a little help parsing this bastard. Your thoughts?

Robert Farago
Robert Farago

More by Robert Farago

Comments
Join the conversation
4 of 29 comments
  • Bubba Gump Bubba Gump on Jul 24, 2006

    Its not about synergy its about spinergy!

  • Chops Chops on Jul 24, 2006

    I think the WSJ nailed it a few weeks ago in their analysis. Kerkorian wants to hold Rick's feet to the fire. The WSJ reports that Kerkorian wants to get Ghosn in front of the board to explain how he set, and met targets. It's all about accountability, and as Farago has pointed out numerous times, Rick will not commit to any numbers or dates. This kind of wiggle room staves off the board from taking action against Wagoner, and you can be sure it pisses of Kerkorian to no end. So why is Ghosn playing along? Only he, the Captain, and York know for sure what promises were made, but you can't blame it all on Pumping Ghosn's ego, though I'm sure that had some appeal for Ghosn.

  • Nicholas Weaver Nicholas Weaver on Jul 24, 2006

    Why CAN'T we blane it on Ghosn's ego? There's no rational reason why Renault/Nissan would benefit from sinking any $$$ or effort into GM. But he's not a sucker, its now clear that this is really costing him nothing: a couple days of distraction overall, since he's now made it clear that there will be no money on the table. He's gotten his ego stroked bigtime, without the cost or commitment.

  • Brifol5 Brifol5 on Jul 24, 2006

    This is my first post ever to a car blog so go easy on me.... Has anyone ever thought that the miraculous turnaround of Nissan isn't what it appears to be? Or that it is losing steam? Perhaps Ghosn is looking jumping ship to GM before he can be blamed for any failures at Nissan. And if GM fails on his watch, he has lots of folks to blame.

Next