Is this the future that could have been?
Here's an odd 'what if?' scenario for you: what if, during the financial crisis of 2008-2009, General Motors had merged with Ford?
And it's not as crazy as it sounds, because a new book by Bill Vlasic, published today and called Once Upon a Car: The Fall and Resurrection of America's Big Three Automakers - GM, Ford and Chrysler reveals that Ford CEO Alan Mulally and GM head honcho Rick Wagoner held secret merger talks back in 2008.
History, of course, reveals that GM needed the help more than Ford; the Blue Oval was the only one of the US 'Big Three' not to plunge into bankruptcy in the aftermath of the credit crunch, and it was Ford man Mulally who killed the idea of a merger.
But what if things had been different? What would a merged Ford and GM look like? How many jobs would have been lost? And whose products would have won out? Would we be driving around in Ford Insignias or Vauxhall Mondeos? What else would we see happening? All interesting questions to ponder...