Carlos Ghosn, chief executive of Nissan Motor Co. and Renault SA said on Thursday in newspaper interviews that an alliance with General Motors Corp was a big prize.

Ghosn is scheduled to meet GM Chief Executive Rick Wagoner on Friday in Detroit to begin discussions on the potential deal. His comments appeared to eliminate the prospect of a more limited tie- up between GM and the existing Nissan-Renault alliance, according to the media.

He was quoted as telling The Wall Street Journal that such an expanded alliance could produce big benefits in the long term.

He also noted an alliance with General Motors was an "enormous opportunity," in an interview published Thursday by the French newspaper La Monde.

"I don't want to talk about how to unlock the value until we define what's at stake," Ghosn was quoted in a report by The Wall Street Journal.

"You need some kind of a shareholding to make sure you are serious about it," he added.

Asked if he believed a deal with GM could happen, Ghosn took a long pause. "I think it may," he said.

Ghosn declined to say how much money GM, Renault and Nissan could save by joint operations, or how much they might be able to grow, the report said.

If combined, the three companies would control about 24 percent of the world auto market and generate revenues of 327 billion U.S. dollars.

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

Source: Xinhua