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I wouldn't call one German car maker using another's sheet metal incestuous.
Here's what I learned about Germans:
In Germany, there are two world-class printing press manufacturers that are fierce competitors. Mann-Roland and Heidelberg.
I can't remember which company had the problem, but one or the other had nearly 60% of their workforce out of the factory and flat on their backs with the flu or a stomach virus or something like that.
The fierce competitor shut down their factories two hours early the next few days because their workers wanted to help another German company from looking bad and losing too much money. One company's workers drove an hour or two away and worked a second shift for days on end ... for the competition.
All this to say, the German brand and keeping Germany running like a well-oiled machine is more important that castle-building one's personal empire. It's all about the kingdom, not the castle to a German.
So, bringing this little story back to the thread topic, I think these German auto makers probably care more about the good of the nation over thinking about their own company running another German auto manufacturer out of business.
[If I'm not mistaken, this happened with GM or Ford workers with Chrysler years ago, didn't it?]
On a completely different note, the airline industry is creating alliances and there will probably be only 4 or 5 airlines in 20 years. The same thing will happen with automakers too I think. It's just much easier to make dependable cars on a large scale.
Thoughts? Comments? Objections?
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