Very interesting. It doesn't really sound like a merger, as much as potential joint ventures in certain areas. Nonetheless, it could very well be a much needed spark to get things going for GM. A merger/strong aliance between Opel and Renault seems quite promising and realistic.

On a side note, I state/maintain that any automaker that is unionized will simply not be competitive from an operational standpoint. The costs are simply too high, whether it be clear costs, ie. wages, benefits, etc or producitivty costs. I have first-hand experience with this, and it's very current and real for me. To give you an idea, we have two plants making the same engine and one making an additional one as well. One unionize, one not. If they both produced the same volume, the non-unionized plant would operate $45million+ more efficiently. Getting anything done with a union, whether from a maintenance or production standpoint is an absolute nightmare, and that will be my heaviest understatement of the quarter. For these reasons, American companies' solution has been heavy automation, as it's the only real way to be less dependent on the UA-f*cking useless-W.

btw, the UAW has been recently, more aggresively trying to unionize certain Nissan and Hyundai plants in. They're bastards and kill companies.