Either the Apocalypse is near, or we're simply witnessing the mass- consolidation that is emblematic of the global auto industry today. Now, this is strictly vicious rumor at this point, and nobody is going officially on-the-record to confirm or deny it. But the buzz on the street is that GM is considering purchasing the Chrysler Group.

As far-fetched as this seems, who would have thought 20 years ago that Daimler Benz would someday own Chrysler? While there are a great deal of potential synergies, there are also a lot of potential headaches. Chyrsler, like GM, has a great deal of legacy costs in the form of retired employees, job bank, etc. And chances are, if a merger takes place, there will be yet more layoffs beyond the tens of thousands that have taken place already.

I've already heard the argument, "GM has too many divisions already." True. But in today's increasingly nuanced marketing-driven marketplace, diversity of brands could also be a strength. But if there's too much homogenization, it could hurt them as well. Even if the Ram & Silverado shared a common platform, how would buyers react if you could only get the Duramax in both of them? Or would it be a "win-win" if you had the choice of a Duramax or Cummins in either of them?

Would the Charger, 300 and Magnum be migrated onto the Zeta chassis for the next re-design? Would this necessarily be a bad thing? Would the next Hemi simply be a Gen-IV with unique heads? This may end up being a completely moot point if DCX decides to hold onto its beleaguered American division and implement the goals of "Project X" or if another buyer altogether steps up to the plate.

Regardless, these sure are interesting times for car enthusiasts.