As reported last week, the Renault-Nissan Alliance is not out of the running for buying Chrysler. The Detroit News is reporting that Nissan has given Chrysler’s parent Cerberus Capital Management a proposal to buy twenty percent of Chrysler. The fundamental differences between General Motors and Renault-Nissan deals are in the buyout and the execution.

If General Motors were to get Chrysler, it would likely obtain the whole company and absorb Chrysler’s operations. GM’s largest gain would be to take advantage of Chrysler’s estimated $11 billion in cash reserves.

A twenty percent purchase by Nissan will bring Chrysler into the Renault-Nissan Alliance. Renault and Nissan do not have an outright majority in each other. Renault owns about 44 percent of Nissan, and Nissan owns 15 percent of Renault. The advantages work in two ways. The companies can share platforms, products and profits; but they can also remain isolated in times of loss (that’s why Nissan is buying instead of Renault - Renault currently is in debt.)

The Detroit News said that Cerberus founder and chief executive Stephen Feinberg still favors a deal with GM. Cerberus currently owns 80.1 percent of the U.S.’s No. 3 automaker. Regardless of whether Chrysler goes to General Motors, Renault-Nissan, or another company, it is expected that Cerberus will buy the remaining portion of Chrysler

In pure TopSpeed speculation, if Nissan really wants twenty percent of Chrysler, and Cerberus doesn’t want to sell to the Japanese firm, it could possibly beat out Cerberus to Daimler’s 19.9 percent stake it still holds in Chrysler. Although this wouldn’t give Nissan a majority in the company, it could take a position of interest.

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