Heck, if I could move back to TN from MI, I would be happy to have FIAT purchase GM.
My opinion, and that is all it is, is that Wagoner is not happy about it, but Kirkorian is pressing through his henchman York, to get something going to raise the price of GM stock above the price Kirkorian paid, so that he can make another killing in the stock market.
Nissan has lost market share the past two years and has just announced a giant 900K vehicle recall due to a 4-cylinder leaking oil and causing possible fires. Renault has also been losing market share, and didn't even know they had any to lose.
I would guess that if they teamed up to produce more hybrids, diesels, etc., then it might be beneficial to all involved.
I also believe that Nissan needs more production capacity in the US, and it would be less expensive to purchase (lease, rent?) some of the closed GM plants.
A perfect one would be the Saturn plant in Spring Hill TN, about twenty miles from their new headquarters in Franklin (due to open in a few years), 60 miles from Smyrna their large assembly plant, and about 70 miles from Nissan's big new engine plant in Deckerd TN.
GM could conceivably lease the production plant in Spring Hill to Nissan, and continue to produce the EcoTec engines at the same site in GM's powertrain plant.
Right now there is no product named for that site after they stop running Saturn Vue's in July '07. The ION goes away this coming December.
I also believe that in the near future, there will be less auto companies, and that the number will diminish due to mergers. I believe Ford will go before GM, and they were in discussions with Nissan a few years ago.
I guess time will tell.