Carmakers Renault and Nissan are in talks with near-bankrupt General Motors, the world's biggest auto manufacturer, about a strategic alliance that could see the Franco-Japanese partners take a 20% stake in the American group.

The board of Nissan, of which Renault owns 44% and which in turn owns 15% of the French group, said yesterday that the company "should proceed with exploratory discussions concerning a potential alliance with GM". Its announcement came just hours before Renault's board met in Paris to discuss taking a stake. Renault said later it was ready to enter into exploratory alliance talks with GM if the US carmaker came up with such a proposal.

The alliance would propel Carlos Ghosn, Renault's chief executive - who turned around Nissan after savage cost-cutting - into a leading role in the global car industry. GM, which lost $10.6bn last year, is slashing plants and jobs to restore its profitability and lead over Toyota.

Mr Ghosn, who is trying to restore Renault's own fortunes with "green" models, met Kirk Kerkorian, GM's biggest shareholder with 9.9%, over dinner in Nashville on June 15 when the idea of a Renault-Nissan stake surfaced.

Renault and Nissan insist that GM's board, headed by Rick Wagoner, "fully support this project" before talks begin, but so far GM has been guarded about the Kerkorian approach, saying it has received no formal proposal for negotiations.

Analysts are divided about the prospects, with some seeing benefit for GM but limited value for Renault/Nissan because Mr Ghosn would sacrifice too much time to the crippled US giant.

Other experts say the triple alliance would create a group producing 15m vehicles a year, half as much again as Toyota, and winning huge savings in shared parts and components - notably in Europe where GM is considering shutting plants such as Ellesmere Port in the UK.