Washington, Frankfurt(AP)-Toyota Motor North America Inc. President Jim Press said Tuesday that the Japanese automaker has had no discussions with General Motors Corp about a potential alliance.
Press said speculation of a partnership cropped up after GM was urged by billionaire shareholder Kirk Kerkorian to begin discussions with Nissan Motor Corp. and Renault SA about forming an alliance, but Toyota’s position has remained unchanged.
Meanwhile, the works council of French car maker Renault is favorable to the idea of exploring a tie-up between Renault-Nissan and GM, the head of the council, Patrick Biau has said in a German newspaper interview.
“If there is a well-thought industrial strategy behind the tie-up, then you should look at it closely,” Biau said. “But if it’s only about Renault and Nissan participating financially GM, then it could be a risky undertaking,” he added.
Toyota is expected to soon surpass GM as the world’s largest automaker by sales volume. Press said the health of GM and Ford was crucial to the industry, predicting the automakers “will both come back stronger than ever and be very successful,”
Toyota is currently the number 3 automaker in the US, behind Ford and number 1 automaker GM.
Parts of this article were contributed by Ken Thomas, Associated Press