Photo: badische-zeitung.de
GM’s CEO at the time proposed to Ford in secret that the two automotive giants should join forces back in the summer of 2009, a full year before GM became bankrupt, The New York Times reports.
According to people familiar to the talks, Rick Wagoner had spoken to Alan Mulally but the talks never evolved into negotiations. The article is based on “Once Upon a Car: The Fall and Resurrection of America’s Big Three Automakers — G.M., Ford and Chrysler” a book by Bill Vlasic, the Detroit bureau chief of The New York Times.
Ford’s CEO was stunned to hear that GM was actually interested in doing this. He knew his rival was in a bad way, but he didn’t know exactly how bad at the time.
Despite the looming disaster, had the two actually combined forces, it would have resulted in a company with a 38 percent stake in the US market. They could have cut thousands of jobs, cut costs and leveraged their purchasing power tremendously.
Ford’s CEO was stunned to hear that GM was actually interested in doing this. He knew his rival was in a bad way, but he didn’t know exactly how bad at the time.
Despite the looming disaster, had the two actually combined forces, it would have resulted in a company with a 38 percent stake in the US market. They could have cut thousands of jobs, cut costs and leveraged their purchasing power tremendously.
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