It is no secret that GM has been struggling over the last couple of years as its stock has fallen from the mid $50s at the start of 2004 to a low of $18.33 back on 12/29/05. 2006 has seen some improvement in the stock as the company has been able to benefit from plant closings and personnel layoffs. Last year the company announced plans to 12 plants by 2008 and as recently as last week announced more employee cuts saying that 35,000 salaried employees had agreed to either early retirement or would accept a buyout offer.

Could an alliance be just what the company needs to put it back on top? Tracinda seems to believe so, stating that the Renault/Nissan alliance has created "tremendous engineering, manufacturing and marketing synergy's, resulting in substantial benefits and cost savings to both Renault and Nissan."

JP Morgan seems to agree and in a note to investors analyst Himanshu Patel stated that "If GM management were to agree to such a partnership, we would view this as a major potential long-term positive for GM shareholders."

Today's news has lifted GM stock 9.8% to $30.14 up $2.70.