I dunno if I'd read a whole lot into this. Automotive mergers have been going on for decades, and they don't show any signs of abating anytime soon. Nissan and Ford merged for awhile (I remember people wondering if this would eventually spell doom for Ford - unfortunately that didn't happen lol), they even had a minivan together back in the early 90s - remember the original Nissan Quest and Mercury Villager? And of course you already mentioned VW, who, of all people, is now using a version of the Dodge Grand Caravan - guess Chrysler still has a thing for German car companies.

Even Toyota and Honda have relied on other divisions - Toyota and Pontiac have a version of the Corolla (the Matrix), and for years Honda relied on Isuzu for an SUV (remember the Passport? A rebadged Isuzu). While I'm certainly not for any type of Chrysler/Nissan merger, I guess I'm willing to take a "wait and see" approach if it in fact does happen.