>From Yahoo news:
LONDON (Reuters) - General Motors Corp. may offer BMW (BMWG.DE) use of its
Astra production platform to produce new Rover models in exchange for Land R
over and/or a stake in the luxury German carmaker, the Sunday Times reported
.
The newspaper said General Motors was interested in BMW's Land Rover and the
U.S. carmaker may suggest its German rival use the platform of its Astra mod
els for a successor to the Rover 25 and 45 in return for the British off-roa
d vehicles manufacturer.
While General Motors is interested in BMW as a whole, the newspaper said tha
t this interest did not extend to Rover's volume British car plants in Birmi
ngham and Oxford.
A number of carmakers are thought to have approached BMW with proposals to h
elp solve its problems with its loss making Rover car unit which it bought i
n 1994. Rumors have swirled that BMW may be looking to exit Rover either by
selling it or ending production of Rover cars.
Speculation has also been rife that the billionaire Quandt industrial dynast
y may be poised to sell their 48 percent in BMW and a number of suitors incl
uding General Motors, Ford Motor Co. and Volkswagen AG (VOWG.F) have been ru
mored to be interested.
Jim Altman jaltman@altlaw.com Illigitimi non Carborundum
http://www.altlaw.com/metro/jaltman.html 69-TR6 80-TR8 W4UCK
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