There have been published reports that General Motors has held talks about possibly acquiring its troubled rival. But more analysts and industry experts have discounted that possibility, especially since GM is also struggling to stem its own operating losses on its core North American auto operations. Neither GM nor DaimlerChrysler executives have commented on the reports of those talks.

Friday, Reuters reported that a spokeswoman for Volkswagen said the German automaker has no interest in buying Chrysler.

Several other automakers, including the alliance between Nissan and Renault and Korean automaker Hyundai, said earlier this week that they are not interested in acquiring Chrysler.

But if Chrysler were to be broken up, and all its parts chucked into the bargain bin, that's a different story. Picking around the pieces, GM could find some attractive deals.

Here are a few:

The Jeep Brand. Although Chrysler has done its best to dilute the value of this American icon by building vehicles that are challenged in quality and functionality, the Jeep name still resonates with buyers. GM hopes that Hummer can some day challenge it, but in-your-face Hummer represents only a subset of the whole off-roading culture that Jeep can lay claim to. Taking on Jeep, and leaving Hummer to the X-games people, would be a smart move.