Ghosn, Wagoner to meet
As the end of three-month review of a possible alliance draws near, two auto bosses set to meet in Paris.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- General Motors Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner and Carlos Ghosn, the CEO of both Nissan and Renault, are due to meet in Paris this week as the deadline for the companies to decide whether to pursue an alliance grows near.

Spokesmen for GM and Nissan confirmed the meeting is expected as they attend the Paris Auto Show, although neither would release details of planned talks.

Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Nissan and Renault.
Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Nissan and Renault.
GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner.
GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner.

"It's safe to assume there will be a meeting, given the timing and the fact that both will be in Paris for the auto show," said GM spokeswoman Gina Proia. Fred Standish, a spokesman for Nissan, also confirmed plans for the talks.

GM (Charts), Nissan (Charts) and Renault announced July 14 that they would spend the next three months holding talks to explore an alliance between three companies. But with the mid-October end of the talks getting closer, there is growing expectations from industry experts that there will be no such alliance produced from the talks.

In an interview published Monday by trade publication Automotive News, Ghosn said the talks have seen some progress, but said it is still open whether there will be a link between the companies.

"The ambience and the spirit of the work are fairly good," he told the publication. "They are working together, spending a lot of time. I think they are all doing a very good job. What I don't know is, what are the conclusions?"

Many experts believe GM executives were forced into the talks by the company's largest individual shareholder, Kirk Kerkorian, who was advocating the alliance. Ghosn said in an interview that there has been some opposition from within GM leadership, without naming any specific detractors.

"We're not naive. We know that discussing having a third party join the alliance has a lot of enemies," he said. "The enemies are mainly people who fear that this is going to be extremely contrary to their interests."

GM's Proia would not comment on the state of the talks, or Ghosn's comments, repeating GM's "no comment" position in place since the talks started July 14.

"We're still in this evaluation period," she said. "We're giving that our focus and attention. When the 90 days are up, we'll decide if it warrants further discussion."

Ghosn also told a French newspaper in an interview released Sunday that he was still eyeing an alliance with a North American partner. Both Ford Motor (Charts) and DaimlerChrysler (Charts) are reporting losses from their North American auto operations, and Ford Chairman Bill Ford Jr. has spoken about his company being open to an alliance.

But Ford named Boeing (Charts) executive Alan Mulally as its new CEO earlier this month, and the company then unveiled a new turnaround plan. Many industry experts believe those moves make alliance talks unlikely in the near term at Ford.

GM-Nissan-Renault talks may run out of gas Top of page

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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.