The turmoil and uncertainty among auto manufacturers and their suppliers have left people wondering when a shakeout can be expected. Two experts who follow the auto sector say consolidation will take place among suppliers to a much greater extent than among carmakers, which may not experience mergers and acquisitions at all in the near term but will be engaged in ever-shifting strategic alliances and joint ventures. In particular, some private-equity firms are hungrily eyeing auto supply companies for investment opportunities, according to Wharton management professor John Paul MacDuffie and Christopher Benko, director of the PricewaterhouseCoopers Automotive Institute in Detroit. The comments by Benko and MacDuffie come as the industry is staging the 2006 North American International Auto Show in Detroit. The show has an odd feel to it this year.…