Slow Newsday Edition: Ford Proposes Merger To GM

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

Or was it GM that proposed? “General Motors Co. Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner secretly proposed a merger with Ford Motor Co. in 2008, a year before GM’s bankruptcy filing, the New York Times reported.” That explosive revelation is made today by Bloomberg. And OMG, Rick Wagoner turned down the deal! Isn’t anything secret sacred anymore?

Of course, TTAC goes straight to the source. Here it is! In the New York Times!

“Before General Motors began exploring a possible merger with Chrysler — talks that first came to light on Friday — G. M. proposed a similar deal with its other cross-town rival, the Ford Motor Company, two people with knowledge of the talks said Saturday.”

That NYT article is dated October 11, 2008. The video above is from a few days after.

Addicted to Valium? Want to break the habit? Don’t go cold turkey! Switch to Bloomberg for a good night’s sleep.


Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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  • Spartan Spartan on Oct 02, 2011

    I like the fact that Bill Ford and Alan Mulally discussed the deal then turned it down. I'm sure they confirmed GM's intent to bleed them dry and laughed them right out of the room. "Wait, wait, wait, you want us to do what? BWHAHAHAHAHA! GTFOH General Moron. Considering what Daimler-Benz did to Chrysler over the course of a decade, GM and Ford merging would have be disatrous on a scale of epic proportions had it happened.

  • Trucky McTruckface Trucky McTruckface on Oct 02, 2011

    This would have been a disaster on the scale of the Studebaker-Packard or the Penn Central Railway mergers. As much as I despise GM because of the bailout (among other things), this scenario would have been even worse.

  • Dr Lemming Dr Lemming on Oct 03, 2011

    Bad idea? That depends upon how you look at it. Think of the possibilities: As a case in point, Ford and Chevy brands could have been merged into one division. Same with the dealer network. One side of a dealer's sign could say Ford; the other side Chevy. Ditto with their car designs. You want both a Taurus and an Impala in one car? Just look to your left; now to your right! But that's not all. Ford/GM marketeers could have found a Siamese twin to be the new spokesperson(s). Think three stooges shtick, but with only two of them. And the new corporate logo could have been the yin/yang sign. Peaceniks would have loved the metaphor of long-warring Chevy and Ford households coming together to drive in perfect harmony. With both a Coke and a Pepsi. If you were a pessimist you might imagine that the combined company would result in the worst qualities of each. That would be understandable. However, this fails to recognize that positive synergies could spill forth after the newlyweds enter the design studio together for the first time. Oh, my: Behold the T-Vette.

  • CamaroKid CamaroKid on Oct 03, 2011

    Yes is was part of the long forgotten GM death watch series... It was not rocket science, at the time GM was burning through just over a billion PER month. And we all knew the cash reserves that GM had... Simple math would tell you when they would run out and declare BK... and when you factor in the 30 billion that W "gave" them in the fall of 2008... several of the Best and Brightest nailed it. Of course what this was all about was GM finding ANYONE with some cash in the bank to keep going... just a little longer. These talks were not secret and are not at all a surprise.

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