Struggling General Motors Corp. is talking to Isuzu Motors about selling its truck business, in what would mark the first Japanese takeover of a business from the US Big Three, a report said Friday.
Isuzu, Japan's second biggest truck maker, is “positive” about the deal, which would be worth tens of billions of yen (hundreds of millions of dollars), the Nikkei business newspaper said in its evening edition.
But an Isuzu spokesman denied the report.
“The company has not been approached by General Motors,” he said.
The US Big Three automakers have been suffering major losses as soaring oil costs and a slowing US economy sap sales.
GM is widely expected to lose its nearly eight-decade-old crown as the top world automaker this year to Japan's Toyota Motor Corp.
Needing cash, GM decided in 2006 to sell its minority stake in Isuzu — most of which was bought by Toyota.
The Nikkei, which is usually well-informed, said GM approached Isuzu this month about buying its business in mid-sized trucks, most of which are sold in North America.
The newspaper, which did not identify its sources, said it was not yet clear whether GM would sell its truck-making plant in the economically ailing US state of Michigan to the Japanese company.
If the deal were to go through, Isuzu — whose main business is small trucks — would surpass Toyota affiliate Hino Motors as Japan's top truckmaker, the report said.
GM is also believed to be considering selling part of stake in DMAX Ltd., an existing joint venture with Isuzu making diesel engines, so that the Japanese company's share would rise from 40 to 50 percent, the report said.
GM posted a massive 15.5-billion-dollar net loss in the second quarter.
