Ghosn refused offer to take wheel at GM

The Daily Yomiuri

The Obama administration asked Nissan-Renault Chief Executive Officer Carlos Ghosn to run General Motors Co., but Ghosn declined the offer, Detroit-based Automotive News and other new services reported Friday.

According to draft copies of an upcoming book about the U.S. government bailout of GM and Chrysler, Ghosn declined the offer because the Frenchman wanted to focus on rebuilding Renault and Nissan, which were then suffering from serious sales slumps amid the worldwide economic crisis.

Ghosn was invited to succeed Rick Wagoner, who was dismissed as GM CEO in March last year.

Titled "Overhaul: An Insider's Account of the Obama Administration's Emergency Rescue of the Auto Industry," is authored by Steven Rattner, a former auto adviser to Obama who engineered the government's 85 billion dollars bailout of GM and Chrysler. Rattner ended his six-month stint inside the White House when he left the team in July 2009 after Chrysler and GM avoided bankruptcy.

Rattner wrote that Ghosn refused to accept the offer because he "felt considerable loyalty to both companies [Nissan and Rennault] and wanted to see them through the crisis."

In 2006, GM and the Nissan-Renault alliance were once in talks for a possible partnership, but Wagoner turned down a chance to have GM join the alliance.

One intriguing dialogue that appears in the book, President Barack Obama asked in a meeting about GM's and Chrysler's predicament: "Why can't they make a Corolla?" One of his advisers replied, "We wish we knew."

The book goes on sale in mid-October.