Nissan Motor Corp

General Motors Corp., Nissan Motor Co. and Renault will continue talks as planned until mid-October on a possible global alliance, the automakers said Wednesday after their chief executives met. GM's Rick Wagoner met on the eve of the Paris Motor Show with Carlos Ghosn, who heads both Nissan of Japan and its controlling partner, Renault of France. "It's fair to say that we agreed that Oct.

Carlos Ghosn, chief executive of automakers Nissan Motor Co. and Renault, and his General Motors Corp. counterpart, Rick Wagoner, will meet in Paris this week to review the progress of talks on a possible alliance. Nissan of Japan and Renault of France have been in discussions with GM since July 14 about whether to add the Detroit-based automaker to their current alliance. The companies will announce by Oct. 15 whether they will pursue a tie-up.

The former North American headquarters of Nissan Motor Co. in the South Bay is being acquired by a Los Angeles real estate developer for more than $75 million. Kearny Real Estate Co., which specializes in improving and repositioning large Southern California real estate assets, will spend as much as $10 million to "freshen up" the 1970s-vintage, 42-acre office and industrial campus before putting the buildings on the market for lease or sale, Kearny Managing Partner Jeff Dritley said Wednesday.

AUTOS French carmaker Renault confirmed that it was hiring two advisory banks for a possible alliance with General Motors Corp. and its existing ally, Nissan Motor Co. GM and Renault have launched a 90-day study into the possibilities of a three-way alliance with GM. The Financial Times said that Renault had hired investment bank BNP Paribas to advise it on a possible three-way tie-up and that the carmaker had a list of other investment banks to advise it on the deal.

Carlos Ghosn, chief executive of Renault and Nissan Motor Co., said Thursday that talks on a possible alliance with General Motors Corp. were progressing well. Ghosn described the tone of the discussions as positive but said it was too early to say what their conclusion would be. He and GM CEO Rick Wagoner began exploratory talks in July at the urging of key GM shareholder Kirk Kerkorian. Kerkorian, who owns a 9.9% stake through his Beverly Hills investment firm Tracinda Corp.

Shares of Ford Motor Co. surged 4.6% on Wednesday after a news report that Chief Executive William Clay Ford Jr. had approached Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Nissan and Renault, about forming a global alliance. The report in the Wall Street Journal cited "a person wellpositioned to know." It was part of a commentary in the paper's opinion section by Paul Ingrassia, vice president for news strategy of Journal publisher Dow Jones & Co., and Joseph B. White, the paper's Detroit bureau chief.

Linda Johnston shed no tears as she flew away this month from the place that had been home for all 43 years of her life. The administrative assistant for Nissan North America is among 550 headquarters employees who opted to stick with the company as it relocates from its freeway-bound campus in Gardena to the hill country of middle Tennessee, just south of Nashville.

Nissan Motor Co. reported a 4.2% jump in fiscal second-quarter profit Tuesday but acknowledged selling fewer vehicles around the world because of a lack of new models. Group net income at Japan's second-largest automaker totaled 110.2 billion yen ($945 million) in the quarter ended June 30. That was up from 105.7 billion yen in the same period a year earlier. Quarterly revenue rose 3.1% to 2.2 trillion yen ($18.9 billion).

Japanese carmaker Nissan said Friday that it has pulled a raunchy commercial starring "Sex and the City" actress Kim Cattrall from New Zealand television after complaints over its content. Cattrall, who played the sex-obsessed, promiscuous Samantha Jones in the HBO series, appears in the ad purring with excitement about a new sedan. "Why didn't you tell me it was so big? I just wasn't prepared for it," she gushes. "The all-new Nissan Tiida makes you feel really, really, really good inside."

General Motors Corp. Chief Executive Rick Wagoner said Tuesday that he planned to keep his job even if the Detroit-based automaker entered a three-way alliance with Nissan Motor Co. and Renault. "I have no intention of leaving my position at GM," he told reporters when asked if he would step down should Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Nissan of Japan and Renault of France, win a GM board seat.