[lbo-talk] A Tale of Two Auto Mergers

[Dennis Redmond]

> BW Online | April 29, 2004 | A Tale of Two Auto Mergers
> By Brian Bremner
>
> Not long ago, Mitsubishi Motors CEO Rolf Eckrodt and Nissan Motors
> CEO Carlos Ghosn were seen as the kind of managers who could bring
> radical change to Japan Inc. Their jobs: to fix Mitsubishi and Nissan,
> midsize car companies with faded brands, awesome debt loads, and
> uncertain futures.

Nissan was always a large, powerful independent carmaker. Mitsubishi was
always a second-tier firm, like Isuzu or Suzuki. Nissan also had superb
design and engineering skills; their main problem was that their assembly
system wasn't as efficient as Toyota or Honda.

The keiretsu are restructuring and consolidating. But they're as mighty as
they ever were.

-- DRR