Carlos Ghosn's American Dreams
In an interview with the International Herald Tribune, Renault-Nissan honcho Carlos Ghosn reveals that he's still interested in an American partner for his Franco-Japanese alliance. Between endless paeans to Nissans miracle turnaround and the underlying strength of diversity in the Renault-Nissan alliance, Ghosn holds off on the PR long enough to let a few nuggets slip through about his mergers and acquisitions strategy. Although talks between Renault-Nissan and GM led nowhere in '06, a recent joint venture with Chrysler to sell rebranded Nissan vehicles in Brazil may point to Ghosn's dancing partner of choice. And with talk of Chrysler's dismemberment never far from the lips of Cerberus-watchers, Renault-Nissan could come into an American nameplate sooner rather than later. Whomever his eventual bedmate may be, if Carlos the Jackal can be trusted at all, the stars will begin aligning before any announcements come through. "This is for the long term," Ghosn tells the IHT about his visions of an American partnership. "But when it comes, then you will know we have been consistent." Is he referring to the Chrysler/Brazil deal, or is there much more to come? Time, and not much of it, will tell…
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What is the reason behind partnering with an American brand? Nissan is already here, he wants a different outlet to sell French cars. I can see spreading out costs and picking up some knowhow in maybe trucks or something but is that worth adding all the problems that come along with say Chrysler or Dodge. Not too much product overlap there since Nissans sell and Chrysler/Dodge doesn't. Does he plan to actually manufacture cars here?
He wants Dodge trucks and minivans. That's about it. Somewhere he talked about the Titan's poor sales and also about Dodge. Wish I could remember where. The thing is, lets say he does get Dodge trucks and minivans. What to do in Canton???? They aren't going to re-tool the whole factory. Not to mention I don't think it will ever work so well for Nissans branded as Dodges or Dodges branded as Nissans when it comes to trucks. Customers would avoid them like the plague. Nissan buyers don't want a Ram, and Dodge buyers don't want a Titan. Besides Nissans turnaround, what about this guy is so great? People act like he's some all-knowing automotive God. If you wanna rip on Bob Lutz, you gotta put Carlos Ghosn up there with him.... Pairing with GM or Ford will NOT happen. Not unless things change, and drastically, between current and the future. There was absolutely no synergy between GM and R/N, Ford would be in exactly the same boat. I'd be more inclined to say Ford and GM would merge before either of the two would merge or get bought by Renault Nissan. Chrysler will be divided, what's good will be sold, and the rest will be closed for good. It is going to happen. My question is, who's gonna be the big bidder for the super-awesome Auburn Hills Technical Center? That's arguably the best building in the automotive world. All offices, a pilot plant, a mini-test track, state of the art wind tunnel. EVERYTHING is right there on that one site. That will be the true prize when the Chrysler fire-sale comes....