The board of General Motors (GM) would discuss a proposal this week for an alliance with Japanese Nissan and French Renault, an indication of GM's interest in the partnership.

Following the board meeting, GM Chief Executive Rick Wagoner would meet with Carlos Ghosn, his counterpart at Renault and Nissan Motor Co., next week to discuss the possible alliance, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday.

The GM board meeting scheduled for Friday was expected to address shareholder Kirk Kerkorian's proposal that Renault and Nissan extend their own alliance by investing in GM, Bloomberg News quoted a GM executive as saying.

Nissan Motor and Renault of France on Monday endorsed the proposal for General Motors (GM) to join their alliance in a move that could create the largest and most powerful automotive group in the world.

In an announcement, Nissan and Renault said they had authorized Ghosn, who is chief executive of both companies, to explore teaming up with the GM, if the world's largest automaker is interested in the partnership.

French Finance Minister Thierry Breton said Wednesday that the government backed the decision by Renault directors to hold alliance talks with Detroit-based GM. The French government holds a 15-percent stake in Renault, and Renault owns a controlling 44- percent of Nissan.

Renault and Nissan said the French and Japanese companies' boards had approved the three-way partnership, but they would not proceed unless GM's board and top management "fully support this project" .

Sharehholder Kerkorian, whose investment company holds a 9.9 percent stake in GM, wrote to Wagoner last Friday, floating the idea of a three-way alliance.

It remained unclear what form such an alliance would take, but Kerkorian's letter suggested that the alliance would enable the companies to combine some operations. Nissan, for example, could draw on GM's underused assembly plants in the U.S. The companies also could profit by using common components and from sharing engineering and design expertise.

The project, if materialized, could shake up the global auto industry, in addition to helping pull GM out of a financial limbo, market analysts said.

GM, which lost 10.6 billion U.S. dollars last year, has been saddled with soaring healthcare and retirement costs. Its U.S. market has shrunk and raw materials costs rocketed. Moreover, GM has to continue paying thousands of idled workers under labor agreements.

Wagoner, 53, has wrapped up several initiatives aimed at restoring profit at the world's largest automaker. He is cutting 30,000 union jobs, closing plants and trying to win back buyers with new models.

Source: Xinhua