Chrysler LLC may be sending a message to President Barack Obama’s autos task force by saying the “best option” for survival is a merger with General Motors Corp. that both sides have labeled dead.
Chrysler, propped up like GM with federal aid, is suggesting a new appraisal of a tie-up in hopes that the auto panel meeting for the first time today might force a “shotgun marriage,” said Brian Johnson, a Barclays Capital analyst in Chicago.
“I can’t imagine GM doing that without being forced into it by the government, but that’s a possibility,” said Kimberly Rodriguez, a principal at consulting firm Grant Thornton LLP in Southfield, Michigan.
Obama’s task force will start reviewing $21.6 billion in new loan requests that include Chrysler’s comment on the advantages of a GM combination. GM, the biggest U.S. automaker, abandoned merger talks in November and said it is focused on its own survival, not hooking up with No. 3 Chrysler.
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