IF an afternoon behind the wheel of General Motors? latest prototype hydrogen fuel cell vehicle, the Sequel, is any indication, automotive powertrains of the future will not feel much different from the engines that drive today?s cars and trucks.

By a seat-of-the-pants evaluation, the Sequel feels reasonably peppy; acceleration is smooth and nearly silent. And it is capable of reaching 90 miles an hour, said Mohsen Shabana, chief engineer for the Sequel program and my passenger on the test drive.

More important than its performance or apparent normalness, though, is its role as a development mule for future production models. Next year G.M. will demonstrate the real-world capabilities of the Sequel?s fuel cell technology when it begins to deploy a fleet of more than 100 fuel-cell-powered vehicles in the United States. Vehicles for this program, called Project Driveway, will be powered by the same fourth-generation fuel cell used in the Sequel I drove, but installed in a Chevrolet Equinox crossover sport wagon.

There?s more: G.M. promised three years ago that by 2010 it would have a hydrogen fuel cell propulsion system, fully validated for production, that would compete head-to-head with the internal combustion engine in overall performance and durability. By all indications, that fuel cell ? a development of the Sequel?s powertrain ? will be installed in a redesigned Equinox body scheduled to makes its debut in 2009.

The Sequel is the latest milestone in G.M.?s fuel-cell-development program, which has shown steady progress and has the support of the company?s top managers, including the chairman, Rick Wagoner, despite G.M.?s financial challenges.

Though large-scale production of fuel cell cars faces many hurdles ? high costs and the ready availability of hydrogen, to name just two ? their environmental friendliness makes them attractive. Combining hydrogen and oxygen to generate electricity, fuel cells are typically made up of many small units, clustered in stacks. The car emits only trace amounts of water vapor.

The Sequel, originally shown by G.M. at the 2005 Detroit auto show, also compares favorably with conventional vehicles in another crucial attribute ? it can travel 300 miles between refueling stops, G.M. says.

A 300-mile operating range is the current benchmark for hydrogen-fueled vehicles, because it is the minimum distance customers expect from a tank of gasoline in their current cars, explained Larry Burns, G.M.?s vice president for research and development and head of strategic planning.

Range is likely to be of great interest among the test-fleet drivers. Sequel trades its 300-mile envelope for a curb weight of 4,700 pounds ? portly indeed for a rather small 197-inch-long sport wagon that seats four comfortably. And that?s despite its weight-saving aluminum body shell and carbon-fiber front fenders.

The primary culprits in the car?s extra mass are three large cylindrical tanks, made of a tough carbon fiber composite and nestled tightly underneath the specially designed center tunnel of the aluminum chassis (where the driveshaft would reside in a rear-wheel-drive vehicle).

Also adding pounds is the rectangular pack of lithium-ion batteries under the rear seat area, a backup steering column ? in case the steer-by-wire system fails ? and those wheel-hub motors.

“To meet our range target, we needed to carry eight kilograms of hydrogen, which has the energy equivalent of 16 gallons of gasoline in a conventional vehicle,” Mr. Shabana explained. One kilogram of hydrogen is roughly equal to one gallon of gasoline in terms of energy content, G.M. says. Fuel cells, which work without combustion, derive about twice as much work from each unit of fuel.

Since hydrogen takes up a lot of space as a gas, it must be stored under high pressure in a car. On the 300-mile Sequel, that required large tanks that hold hydrogen at 10,000 pounds a square inch. They are arrayed along the center line of the vehicle as a consideration toward meeting federal crash standards; G.M. has demonstrated the car?s compliance by computer simulation.

Sequel?s travel range, which G.M. promises to prove publicly early next year, is considered somewhat of a breakthrough, said Mr. Burns, whose team of engineers and scientists in the United States and Germany is working to put hydrogen fuel cell vehicles into the transportation mainstream.

But notions that the technology has the potential to reduce transportation?s dependency on petroleum fuels are rife with caveats. How will the hydrogen fuel be produced? What sort of fuel is consumed in the process of producing hydrogen? How will the fuel be distributed?

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WHEN General Motors introduced the three-ton, 11-miles-to-the-gallon Hummer H2 four years ago, it redefined American extravagance. But now, with gas prices hovering at $3 a gallon and threatening to go higher, sales of Hummers are declining as Americans become increasingly conscious of gas mileage.

McDonald?s, however, appears not to have gotten the message. This week, the restaurant chain started putting toy Hummers in children?s Happy Meal boxes, calling it the ?Hummer of a Summer? promotion. Television and radio ads, which started running this week, feature a family riding in a Hummer on the way to a McDonald?s.

With enough visits to McDonald?s, children will be able to collect eight different Hummers in a variety of colors, including two versions of the H1, the original and most monstrous member of the Hummer family, which General Motors stopped making in June.

The promotion runs until the end of August and is aimed at young boys. Girls can choose to get Polly Pocket fashion dolls in their Happy Meals instead.

Not surprisingly, environmental groups are appalled. Brendan Bell, an energy policy analyst at the Sierra Club, says that Hummers in Happy Meals are about as responsible as ?dipping a Big Mac in the fry oil and serving it to your kids.?

Mr. Bell says that McDonald?s is trying to make Hummers look cool, but that the vehicles are anything but. ?The technology is pass?,? he said. ?For the H1 and H2, they?re running it off an engine that hasn?t been fundamentally redesigned since the 1950?s. What the next generation needs is better technology in our vehicles so that we can cut our dependence on oil and curb global warming.?

?In a written statement, Bill Lamar, McDonald?s chief marketing officer, said the promotion was intended to bring ?the fun and excitement of Hummer vehicles? to ?McDonald?s youngest guests.? The company did not make anyone available for an interview.

General Motors says the H2 and H3 benefit from a ?host of advanced technologies? and that the H2?s Vortec ?is one of the most efficient engines in production today.?

Jeff Davis, president of Sandelman & Associates, a restaurant industry research firm, said that since McDonald?s long-term partnership with Disney ended last year, the chain had faced a challenge in finding toys for its Happy Meals. ?They?re in a tough position and certainly the toy truck is going to be a popular thing among kids,? Mr. Davis said.

Charlie Miller, a spokesman for Environmental Defense, said he thought that McDonald?s might be trying to help an ailing General Motors win some future customers. Sales of the H2, which currently costs about $96 to fill up at the pump, are down 34 percent for the first seven months of this year versus the same period in 2005, and General Motors has sold only 229 H1?s this year, according to Autodata, an auto industry statistics firm in Woodcliff Lake, N.J.

?Anything that sends a message to kids that these are the cool vehicles to buy is the wrong message,? Mr. Miller said.

?Consumers have turned away not just from Hummers, but also from other large, gas-hungry vehicles. ?People used to never ask about fuel economy numbers,? said Jesse Toprak, an analyst at the car-buying site Edmunds.com. ?Now, it?s one the primary factors for many people in making car purchase decisions.??

Twenty-eight percent of sport utility vehicle owners surveyed in October 2005 by AutoPacific Research, a California consulting firm, said they would shift to a different kind of vehicle for their next purchase.

Some policy analysts say there are reasons other than environmental ones that McDonald?s should not be promoting Hummers. Anne Korin, co-director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, a policy research group based in Washington, said that large, inefficient vehicles were unpatriotic and detrimental to America?s national security.

With toy Hummers, McDonald?s is ?sending a message to children that utter waste of this precious resource that is causing us such national security problems is O.K.,? she said.

McDonald?s decision to include Hummers in its Happy Meals is surprising given that the fast-food chain has strived in recent years to bolster its image as an environmentally aware company. It has also promoted healthier menu choices and has avoided introducing indulgent 1,000-calorie-plus items, as some of its rivals have done. The company has also earned praise for its work with animal rights advocates.

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MILFORD, Mich., Aug. 2 ? Even as surging gasoline prices deflate sales of trucks and sport utility vehicles, General Motors is rushing a new line of full-size pickups to showrooms in the hopes of strengthening its turnaround effort.

G.M. introduced its 2007 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra at its testing facility here on Wednesday and said the trucks would begin arriving at dealerships in October, 13 weeks ahead of the original schedule.

G.M.?s chief executive, Rick Wagoner, called the new trucks ?the most important part of our North American turnaround plan.?

G.M.?s largest rival in the truck category, the Ford Motor Company, responded Wednesday by saying that it would reduce sticker prices for its 2007 F-Series pickups by as much as $1,400, offer two additional body styles and increase towing capacity. G.M. has not announced prices for the new Silverado and Sierra.

Both companies are desperate to increase sales of pickups, which are among their most profitable products. Detroit?s automakers earned $11,449, excluding incentives or other dealer payments, on each pickup they sold in the first half of the year, according to an estimate by CNW Research, while barely breaking even on many passenger cars.

But pickups have become a much tougher sell than in 1999, when the Silverado and Sierra were last redesigned. As gasoline prices have climbed past $3 a gallon, sales of large pickups have fallen 36 percent in the past year.

In addition, the Japanese rivals Toyota, Honda and Nissan have been rolling out new pickups and gaining market share in that segment, which has long been dominated by American carmakers.

Despite higher fuel costs, Robert A. Lutz, G.M.?s vice chairman and chief of product development, remains confident that well-designed pickups can lead the company back to prosperity.

?The effect will decrease over time as people adjust to the thought of $3 a gallon, just as they did when it was $2 a gallon and just as they did when it was $1 a gallon,? Mr. Lutz told reporters.

But James P. Womack, founder of the Lean Enterprise Institute, a research organization, said he believed rising fuel prices would have a more lasting effect on the industry.

?Why do you think it?s going to stop at $3 a gallon? Are we going to go back to $20-a-barrel oil?? Mr. Womack said.

?He?s got to be holding the crowd back and saying, ?It?s not a fire, it?s just a little bit of smoke, folks.? It just seems to me a lot of things are happening now. It?s a very precarious time for everyone in this game,? Mr. Womack added.

Mr. Lutz also said the redesigned trucks would let G.M. tap into a large base of consumers who insist on driving pickups.

The majority of those who buy pickups have no practical alternative because of their work needs or lifestyle, said Jesse Toprak, executive director of industry analysis for Edmunds.com, a Web site offering advice on buying cars. Rather than comparing a Silverado to a smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicle, these consumers only compare one pickup to another, he said.

?It is not the best timing, but I think that G.M. needed this,? Mr. Toprak said. ?The new trucks will bring a lot of attention and floor traffic to their dealers.?

G.M. designed the new trucks to appeal more to buyers who regard fuel efficiency as a priority. In highway driving, the two-wheel drive versions will get at least three miles per gallon more than competing models, the company said, while four-wheel drive versions will get two miles per gallon more than rival models.

G.M. claims they are the first pickups to achieve more than 20 miles per gallon with engines that produce at least 300 horsepower.

The redesigned Silverado could overtake the Ford F-Series as the nation?s top-selling vehicle. The F-Series outsold the Silverado by just 2,400 in July, compared with a gap of 31,000 a year ago, and demand usually swells when new models are introduced.

That would end more than two decades of supremacy for the F-Series and bolster G.M.?s image as it recovers from a loss of $10.6 billion last year. It would also come as some analysts have lost patience with the progress of the reorganization effort at Ford, which last week posted a $123 million second-quarter loss and is expected to stay in the red for the third quarter.

?If nothing else, I think it would be a psychological blow to Ford,? Mr. Toprak said.

However, G.M. executives publicly dismiss any suggestion that they are concerned with stealing the top-selling model distinction from Ford. Mr. Lutz noted that the combined sales of the Silverado and the nearly identical Sierra already overshadow the F-Series sales numbers.

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DETROIT, Aug. 1 ? The General Motors Corporation said Tuesday that its deal to sell a controlling interest in its financing subsidiary could be delayed until next year and said it had increased its second-quarter loss by $200 million.

The restatement is the third time this year that G.M. has adjusted its results after announcing them. Further, G.M. said it might make further adjustments until it closes its agreement to sell a stake in its finance arm, the General Motors Acceptance Corporation.

In a terse securities filing, G.M. said it hoped to conclude the deal by the end of 2006 as planned. But executives said it could take longer because of a federal moratorium that was recently placed on the approval of some banking transactions.

Earlier this year, G.M. agreed to sell 51 percent of G.M.A.C. to investors led by the equity group Cerberus Capital Management. The sale was part of G.M.?s efforts to raise cash after a $10.6 billion loss last year.

Last week, G.M.?s chief financial officer, Frederick A. Henderson, said the transaction was on track to close by year?s end.

But on Friday, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation placed a six-month moratorium on approving any changes in control at industrial loan companies. F.D.I.C. approval is required for closing the deal, G.M. said.

G.M. said it revised its net loss for the second quarter to $3.4 billion, or $5.97 a share, from its previously announced $3.2 billion, or $5.62 a share.

G.M. said it increased an after-tax charge to reflect the difference between the book value and the taxable value of several G.M.A.C. units, which it did not name. The charge is now $690 million, G.M. said.

Earlier this year, G.M. increased its 2005 loss by $2 billion because of higher costs related to its restructuring and the bankruptcy at the Delphi Corporation, its parts supplier.

It also restated results for the last five years after discovering accounting errors.

After the first quarter, G.M. restated its preliminary results to reflect a change in the tax treatment of a health care deal with the United Automobile Workers, shifting from a $323 million loss to a $445 million profit, its first since 2004.

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DETROIT, July 7 ? Bowing to a request by its biggest shareholder, Kirk Kerkorian, the board of General Motors today authorized the company to begin “exploratory talks” with Renault and Nissan on a possible three-way alliance.

Statement from G.M. Audio Report Automakers Begin a Difficult Dance The Times’s Micheline Maynard reports from Detroit on the next step in negotiations for an alliance between General Motors and Nissan and Renault. Go to Report ? (mp3)

But in a show of support for G.M.’s top management, the board named its embattled chief executive, Rick Wagoner, to lead the team of company executives that will hold discussions with Renault and Nissan. No deadline was set for conclusion of the talks.

At the same time, the G.M. board also backed the turnaround plan that Mr. Wagoner, who is also the board’s chairman, began implementing last year. The plan is meant to reverse the company’s loss of $10.6 billion in 2005 and shore up its North American market share, which has been dwindling.

In the talks, Mr. Wagoner will square off against Carlos Ghosn, who runs both Renault and Nissan and who, many analysts say, might take Mr. Wagoner’s place if the proposed alliance is created ? something that is nowhere near certain, given the complexity of such a deal.

Mr. Ghosn and Mr. Wagoner are scheduled to meet in Detroit on July 14, when Mr. Ghosn will be in town to visit Nissan’s North American technical center.

Mr. Kerkorian, who holds 9.9 percent of G.M. shares, sent letters to all three companies a week ago, asking them to hold talks on a three-way alliance. The letters followed a meeting between Mr. Kerkorian and Mr. Ghosn in Nashville last month.

Mr. Kerkorian, through his advisor, Jerome B. York, has pushed G.M. to move faster on its overhaul. In a speech last January, Mr. York held up Mr. Ghosn’s swift restructuring methods as a model for Mr. Wagoner to follow. Mr. York joined the G.M. board in February.

Renault said in a statement that the company looks forward to starting talks soon now that the General Motors board has voted to go ahead. Officials at Nissan had no immediate comment.

On Monday, the boards of Renault and Nissan authorized the opening of talks, on condition that G.M. management and its board also supported the discussions.

Mr. Kerkorian’s proposal calls for Renault, the leading French automaker, and Nissan, the Japanese automaker it controls, to invest $3 billion by each buying a 10 percent share of G.M.

“The G.M. Board of Directors authorized management to proceed with its plan to consider ideas the other two companies have and to weigh the potential benefits of such an alliance in order to assist the board in its decision making,” a G.M. director, George Fisher, said in the company’s statement.

The statement did not mention Mr. Kerkorian’s request, made last week, that the board form a committee to look into an alliance together with management.

Neither did it mention whether any outside financial advisors would be used by management to assess the alliance idea, an issue that people with knowledge of Mr. Kerkorian’s thinking had raised this week.

Rather, the statement said, “management will keep the board well informed and the directors, of course, will closely monitor the process to assure that its outcome serves the best interests of all G.M. shareholders.”

In a statement, Mr. Kerkorian’s company, Tracinda, said it was “pleased” at the G.M. board’s action, but that it wanted the directors to examine the proposal themselves.

“We believe that the upcoming meeting between Mr. Wagoner and Mr. Ghosn is a good first step, but a full and objective evaluation of this unique opportunity will require establishment of a board committee that receives independent financial and legal advice,” the Tracinda statement said.

Mr. Wagoner, in the statement, said G.M. management would approach the discussions “with an open mind ? eager to hear their ideas of how an alliance between our companies might work to our mutual benefit.”

Earlier this week, news reports in Detroit and elsewhere suggested that the company’s management would tell the board today that an alliance would be too complex and distracting to attempt while G.M. was trying to fix itself.

Those reports apparently alarmed Mr. Kerokorian. People with knowledge of his thinking said he worried that his proposal would be sabotaged before the board had a chance to review it.

But G.M. officials said yesterday that management would recommend to the board that it authorize talks. And today, Mr. Wagoner said management was committed to a “thorough and objective review” of the alliance idea.

“General Motors has a lot of experience with different types of alliances, and some have provided significant benefits to G.M.’s competitive position and financial strength,” Mr. Wagoner said.

In fact, the company’s record in linking up with rivals is mixed. It has a long association with Japan’s biggest auto company, Toyota: they builds cars together in a joint-venture plant in California. But an association with one of Europe’s biggest carmakers, Fiat of Italy, ended badly, with G.M. having to pay $2 billion to extricate itself.

While it is proud of its successful venture with Daewoo of South Korea, G.M. recently ended ventures with two Japanese companies, Suzuki and Fuji Heavy Industries, the parent of Subaru.

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DETROIT, July 6 ? What would Carlos Ghosn bring to the table?

It is a top-of-mind question for directors of General Motors, who are scheduled to meet Friday to discuss whether to open talks on a three-way alliance involving G.M. and the two companies that Mr. Ghosn runs, Renault and Nissan.

Arguably the most famous executive in the global auto industry, Mr. Ghosn earned his reputation for quick restructurings at Renault in the 1990′s and at Nissan this decade.

While both companies have hit speed bumps lately, it is Mr. Ghosn’s decisive methods that led G.M.’s largest investor, Kirk Kerkorian, to reach out to him, and push for ways to get him involved in G.M.’s turnaround effort. That effort is unfolding at a slower pace under the leadership of G.M.’s chief executive, Rick Wagoner, than Mr. Kerkorian would like.

Industry analysts expect the G.M. board to approve exploratory talks about a possible alliance, under which Renault and Nissan would each take a 10 percent stake in G.M., in a deal worth $3 billion.

After all, if G.M.’s board were to decline, it could incur the wrath of shareholders beyond Mr. Kerkorian. But how seriously the company would pursue the talks remains to be seen.

News reports this week have suggested that G.M.’s management believes its turnaround plan would be hindered, not helped, by an alliance with Renault and Nissan.

Executives at Mr. Kerkorian’s company, Tracinda, said Thursday that they were angered by the reports of G.M. management’s trying to influence the board. They added that G.M.’s board must decide for itself whether to pursue an alliance.

A G.M. spokesman said Thursday that management was not trying to influence the board’s decision.

G.M.’s board has consistently backed Mr. Wagoner in recent months, but Mr. Ghosn, who has the support of his own companies’ to pursue an alliance, now offers an alternative.

“Take Ghosn out of the equation and no one would be talking about this,” said James P. Womack, president of the Lean Enterprise Institute and author of “The Machine That Changed the World,” about Japanese auto plants in the United States.

Mr. Ghosn represents a sharp contrast to Mr. Wagoner. The two men have their relative strengths and weaknesses, but their approaches to management and leadership could not be more different.

Where Mr. Ghosn swooped in with clearly defined turnaround plans, Mr. Wagoner has unreeled his efforts at G.M. at a far more measured pace. Where Mr. Ghosn has articulated his vision in speeches, television interviews and best-selling books, Mr. Wagoner’s public appearances are less frequent and his descriptions of the company’s challenges and actions are often described in more clinical terms.

In a sense, the two leaders could complement each other. Mr. Ghosn, in fact, has much in common with G.M.’s vice chairman, Robert A. Lutz, another well-known figure whom Mr. Wagoner brought in as a “car guy” to enliven the look of G.M. vehicles. By all accounts, Mr. Wagoner and Mr. Lutz have worked together seamlessly, with Mr. Lutz’s passion for bold design meshing well with Mr. Wagoner, an M.B.A. who rose through G.M.’s finance staff.

Mr. Ghosn is known for bold strokes with design, too. But he is a manager who has dived into every company he has run, a trait that would put him in conflict with Mr. Wagoner if an alliance came about.

History would suggest the two men might clash over timetables for change.

Consider, for example, the way the companies approached developing two hot sports cars. In 2001, with its financial problems just beginning to ebb, Nissan showed a concept version of its 350Z at the Detroit auto show. The car, whose design won rave reviews, was on sale just 20 months later.

G.M., which won similar applause for the concept version of the Chevrolet Camaro at this year’s Detroit show, has spent the months since then exploring whether a business case could be made to justify building the car. Even if the G.M. board approves it at Friday’s meeting, a production version is not due for three years, analysts say.

A similar pattern emerges in their broader approaches to change.

In quick succession, Mr. Ghosn has rolled out three programs at Nissan over the last seven years, each with a snappy name and clear goals.

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DETROIT, July 6 ? General Motors’ board must make its own decision on a proposed three-way alliance among G.M., Renault of France and Nissan of Japan, no matter what G.M.’s management recommends, officials representing Kirk Kerkorian, the company’s largest shareholder, said today.

News reports in Detroit and elsewhere this week contended that Rick Wagoner, the chairman and chief executive of General Motors, and other managers at the company were opposed to the idea of an alliance, which Mr. Kerkorian proposed last week in letters to the three automakers.

G.M.’s board is meeting on Friday, and is scheduled to take up the question of whether to hold talks with Nissan and Renault on the plan. Those companies’ boards have already expressed interest.

The G.M. board “has an obligation to look at it, even if management doesn’t want to look at it,” a representative of Mr. Kerkorian’s Tracinda Corporation, who insisted on anonymity, said today.

Mr. Kerkorian “thinks the board ought to look at every possibility, and he’s expecting the board to do the right thing,” meaning to explore the proposed $3 billion alliance with open minds, the Tracinda representative went on.

But if General Motors managers persuade the board not to hold discussions with Renault and Nissan, “then he’d be very disappointed by that, and he might have to react,” he said, referring to Mr. Kerkorian. The Tracinda representative did not elaborate.

Meanwhile, officials at G.M. insisted today that Mr. Wagoner and the company’s chief financial officer, Frederick Henderson, who is known as Fritz, were not building an argument against the proposed three-way global alliance.

Mr. Henderson would be the executive most likely to head a team that would explore such an alliance, if the G.M. board votes to do so.

“The reality of it is that Rick and Fritz and senior management are much more objective and pragmatic than to rule something out without having done the due diligence to look at it and explore it,” said a person involved with G.M.’s deliberations, who also insisted on anonymity.

Toni Simonetti, a spokewoman for G.M. in New York, said executives and board members at the company are taking the proposal seriously. She disputed reports that upper management is trying to dismiss the idea without careful consideration.

“There’s really no definition for what type of relationship is being proposed,” Ms. Simonetti went on. “It’s difficult to formulate a posture at this point in time.”

One version of the alliance plan would call for Renault and Nissan to purchase 10 percent of G.M., investing about $3 billion. The idea came about after Mr. Kerkorian, who owns 9.9 percent of G.M., had dinner in Nashville last month with Carlos Ghosn, who is chief executive of both Renault and Nissan, which Renault controls.

A close associate of Mr. Kerkorian, Jerome B. York, was named a director of G.M. in February. He met with Mr. Ghosn in London last month, paving the way for the dinner with Mr. Kerkorian.

The boards at Nissan and Renault voted on Monday to explore the arrangement if G.M. management and its directors agreed to hold discussions. G.M has said its board would take the matter under advisement.

Mr. Wagoner, who has been leading G.M. through a turnaround plan, and Mr. Ghosn previously scheduled a meeting for July 14 in Detroit to discuss Mr. Kerkorian’s suggested venture, which could link the companies’ purchasing, engineering and manufacturing operations.

Mr. Kerkorian’s representative said today that the billionaire investor, who holds 56 million shares of G.M. stock, was not pushing the automakers to agree to a business deal, only to study one. “The board is really being put to a test here,” the representative said.

Analysts have suggested that Mr. Kerkorian’s real purpose in floating the alliance idea is to push up the price of G.M. stock, since he has yet to make a profit on his $1.6 billion investment in the company. But the Tracinda representative disputed that, saying Mr. Kerkorian is interested in shoring up G.M.’s sagging market share and restoring its financial health.

“From a Tracinda viewpoint, what’s the root problem?” the Tracinda representative said. “The root problem is stopping the erosion of market share. And none of the recent things undertaken thus far been able to help that.”

One option, corporate governance experts suggested, was for the G.M. board to hire independent financial advisors, who could then hold discussions with the three companies and make recommendation. That way, the board could get an outside view of a deal, rather than rely exclusively on reports from G.M. management.

Mr. Kerkorian’s representative refused to say whether Mr. York would make his own presentation to the board tomorrow. Mr. York has not commented publicly since Mr. Kerkorian’s letters were made public last week.

Some reports have suggested that G.M. officials believe Mr. York acted improperly by meeting with Mr. Ghosn, since he was not authorized by Mr. Wagoner in advance to do so.

“I think there’s a legitimate question as to some protocol issues that need to be discussed,” a G.M. official with knowledge of management’s thinking said today.

But Tracinda officials said today that Mr. York informed Mr. Wagoner immediately after his meeting with Mr. Ghosn.

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DETROIT, July 3 ?The boards of Nissan and Renault voted Monday to explore a historic three-way alliance with General Motors, putting pressure on the embattled automotive giant to decide whether it wants two foreign companies, and their charismatic chief executive, Carlos Ghosn, to play a role in its revamping.

Carlos Ghosn oversees both Nissan and Renault and is known for his turnaround success at the companies. An alliance of Renault, Nissan and G.M. would probably include a role for him in the revamping effort.

RelatedJune Sales Were Painful for the Big 3(July 4, 2006)

G.M.’s board, which held an emergency meeting on Friday when the proposal for a deal was unveiled by its biggest shareholder, Kirk Kerkorian, is scheduled to meet this Friday, people with direct knowledge of the meeting said Monday.

G.M. did not return calls seeking comment.

The G.M. board’s decision will determine whether discussion of the alliance moves forward, since both Nissan and Renault said Monday that they would explore the venture only if G.M. went along.

The boards’ actions, taken at meetings in Tokyo and Paris, were not a surprise. After all, Mr. Ghosn, the multilingual executive of Lebanese descent who runs both companies, teamed up with Mr. Kerkorian to float the idea.

But the boards’ action lends new weight to their direct challenge to G.M.’s chief executive, Rick Wagoner. He has withstood challenges to his leadership thus far, and taken drastic action in recent months to try to turn around the company, including closing plants and offering buyouts to tens of thousands of workers. But G.M.’s board, and the company’s investors, now have a new alternative to consider besides Mr. Wagoner’s plans.

Nissan’s directors voted to begin talks “if General Motors Corporation supports and endorses the proposal made by its shareholders,” according to a statement. Likewise, the Renault board approved a resolution offered by Mr. Ghosn, which said exploratory discussions with G.M. could start if G.M. “makes the proposal.”

Mr. Kerkorian’s company, the Tracinda Corporation, said it had no comment.

Under the $3 billion plan, Renault and Nissan would each buy 10 percent stakes in G.M. Tracinda holds 9.9 percent.

The deal would put about 30 percent of G.M. in the hands of two foreign companies and Mr. Kerkorian, an unpredictable investor who has pushed Mr. Wagoner to act quicker.

Although Renault and Nissan have said they will wait for G.M.’s response, the company may have trouble making the issue go away even if it wants to. If G.M. flatly refuses to talk to Renault and Nissan, Mr. Wagoner could be cast in the light of refusing to consider Mr. Ghosn’s ideas, despite his strong track record at Nissan.

The most likely candidate to handle G.M.’s negotiations is its chief financial officer, Frederick Henderson, who ran G.M.’s European operations as well as its unit in Asia, people with knowledge of the company’s thinking said Monday night. But if G.M. enters negotiations only to stall for time, the impetus will inevitably shift back to Mr. Kerkorian, analysts said.

Until now, he has been reluctant to increase his G.M. holdings above 10 percent, because of disclosure requirements and other regulatory concerns. That could prevent him from beginning a tender offer for more G.M. shares.

But he could encourage shareholders to tender their stock to Renault or Nissan, if the companies cooperate, though their carefully worded statements indicate they may not be willing to take that action. Mr. Kerkorian also could seek out stronger partners for G.M., like Toyota, Honda or BMW, which, though independent, have entered into ventures with G.M. in the past.

Mr. Kerkorian also can keep the heat on G.M. by sending his associate, Jerome B. York, back into the spotlight to push for more change. Mr. York, who gained a seat on the G.M. board in February, made a speech in January calling for G.M. to halve its dividend and cut pay for board members and top executives, actions subsequently taken by the company.

In the most extreme case, Mr. Kerkorian could challenge the G.M. board with his own slate of directors, although a wholesale change presumably would have to wait until G.M.’s annual shareholders meeting next year.

Although G.M.’s board gave Mr. Wagoner a vote of confidence this spring when the company’s financial crisis was especially grave, Jonathan Steinmetz, Morgan Stanley’s auto analyst in New York, said the directors would have a difficult time disregarding Mr. Ghosn, given his success at Nissan.

Because of the players involved, Mr. Steinmetz said he thought some kind of partnership would come out of Mr. Kerkorian’s proposal. “It’s not just kite-flying” by Mr. Kerkorian, he said.

Mr. Kerkorian’s proposal touched a nerve in Detroit, generating front-page headlines in a type size generally used when war is declared.

On Saturday, the words “Power Play” were splashed across the top of The Detroit Free Press, over photos of Mr. Kerkorian and Mr. Wagoner.

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In directing a network of more than 70 outbound service providers moving some 1.7 million GM vehicles to 54 countries annually, Vector provides visibility to some 11 million shipments per year, supporting finished vehicle delivery for two GM brands.

Vector said its management program, which leverages the company’s process-driven methodologies and engineering capabilities in automotive logistics, has generated benefits across several key areas, including: an average transit time reduction of 2.5 days; improved delivery consistency and contract reliability; and more accurate and timely network visibility.

“With the proven success of this program, we are launching the next stage of deployment to support other GM brands in Europe,” said Joerg Parnet, Europe region managing director for Vector. “The higher volume will drive additional economies of scale and greater value to all parties in the network.”

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Paul W. Schmidt, the current controller, will retire later this year and Peter R. Bible, the chief accounting officer, will resign effective June 1, G.M. said in a statement. The company said it would combine the two positions and search for a successor outside the company.

G.M. also said it had retained AlixPartners, an advisory firm, to help with accounting, financial reporting and related matters.

Fritz Henderson, the company’s chief financial officer, said the company was “moving quickly to make sure that we have a robust level of internal controls and systems in place ? and AlixPartners has tremendous expertise to support this initiative.”

David Healy, an analyst for Burnham Securities, said of G.M.: “They are making these changes because they need to.”

G.M. shares fell $1.07 Wednesday, or more than 4 percent, to close at $24.46, on a day of broad losses in the stock market.

G.M. also confirmed yesterday that it was cutting 900 jobs in Britain, about a third of the work force there, as it deals with an expected decline in sales of its Astra compact model.

GM lost $10.6 billion in 2005 and is in the middle of a revamping that includes eliminating 30,000 jobs and closing 12 plants.

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