Wagoner, Ghosn rendezvous in Paris

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MARK AUSTIN THOMAS: GM chief Rick Waggoner heads for Paris this week. Shareholders including billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian may wonder whether the trip can help revive the automaker’s fortunes. Marketplace’s Lisa Napoli reports.

LISA NAPOLI: With the Paris Auto Show as the backdrop, GM’s Rick Wagoner is expected to meet Carlos Ghosn of Renault and Nissan.

It’s the latest in two months of talks to see if there’s an alliance possible among the three.

Rebecca Lindland’s an analyst with Global Insight. She says the reason for the discussions is clear:

REBECCA LINDLAND: In terms of motivation, first off, this is really about Kirk Kerkorian maximizing his stock investment in GM, so let’s just start there.

Lindland says Other than that, no one who follows the industry closely sees any obvious reasons for the three-way alliance. Although they do have an existing agreement in Europe to co-produce delivery vans.

Some reports say GM’s less enthralled with the potential of a joint venture than Renault and Nissan.

Details should become a bit clearer in mid-October when reports are to be delivered on the relative merits of a deal.

In New York, I’m Lisa Napoli for Marketplace.