Posted on April 5th, 2012 • by Bill Cawthon
With yesterday’s shareholder approval of a single class of common stock, Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne says the Italian company is ready to buy the remaining shares of Chrysler Group from the United Auto Workers Voluntary Employee Benefits Association (VEBA). The VEBA currently holds a 41.5 percent stake in Chrysler and Fiat has the first call on any sale.
Speaking to reporters in Turin yesterday, Marchionne reiterated his stance on timing, saying that, even with the purchase, a merger would not be “a 2012 event.”
Posted on March 8th, 2012 • by Bill Cawthon
Even while Fiat explores alliances with Mazda or Suzuki, Italian business newspaper Il Sole 24 Oro reports talks are continuing with General Motors about a possible tie-up with Opel that would operate “in the margins” of GM’s new deal with PSA-Peugeot.
Confirmation of the discussions came yesterday from Opel CEO Karl-Friedrich Stracke at the Geneva Motor Show. Asked about partnering with Fiat, Stracke said it is under discussion but that GM vice Chairman Steve Girsky, recently named chairman of Opel, is the one to make those decisions. Stracke told reporters that Girsky and Marchionne have talked but that he (Stracke) didn’t know what was discussed.
Fiat needs help with B-segment cars, like its Punto. The Punto’s market share has shrunk recently and a replacement is not due for two years. Chrysler doesn’t have any vehicles in that size, so Marchionne is shopping for a platform.
In addition, the outlook for the European market is pretty grim at this point. Yesterday, Marchionne said “…every vehicle segment in Europe is suffering from this point. We are working on future cars, but we still have to resolve the problem of pricing. At certain rates of European production, we are losing money and we don’t want to do that.”
Marchionne has ruled out Volkswagen, Daimler and BMW (though there have been contacts in the past) and is talking with Mazda and Suzuki. Fiat already works with Ford; the Ford Ka, which shares its architecture with the Fiat 500 and Punto, is built in the Fiat plant in Tichy, Poland, but further cooperation is unlikely. Even though Ford is facing problems of its own, Stephen Odell, CEO of Ford of Europe, said he was satisfied with the current arrangement as Ford has enough volume for its needs.
Posted on February 26th, 2012 • by Bill Cawthon
Italian news paper Corriere della Sera reports that Fiat has signed a letter of intent with Russia’s Sberbank for a joint venture that will produce and sell Jeeps in the country.
Fiat and Chrysler Group want to expand their presence in growth markets like Russia to offset slow growth in Europe.
The deal has been working since last year when an alliance with OAO Sollers, Russia’s second-largest automaker, fell through in February. Sollers went with Ford, instead.
A Russian official said a deal was likely in which Fiat would work with a Russian partner to build a major new car plant in St. Petersburg during the first quarter of 2012. Various sources identified the partner as Sberbank.
Corriere said the letter signed last night proposes a joint venture with Fiat taking an 80 percent share. Sberbank would finance the project by offering a credit line to the new company.
Corriere said the joint-venture would invest 850 million euros ($1.14 billion) in the St. Petersburg plant which would produce 120,000 cars a year. It said a second plant would be opened in Moscow (most likely the ZiL factory as reported here on Allpar.com).
Fiat had no comment.
Thanks to RVC and Tryphoon for the tips!
Posted on January 17th, 2012 • by Bill Cawthon
After Chrysler/Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne announced the merger of Chrysler and Fiat would be 50 percent complete by the end of this year, the company’s stock rose 7.04 percent, regaining the four-euro level last seen in December. In addition, Goldman Sachs raised its outlook for Fiat SpA and Fiat Industrial to positive from neutral with a target of eight euros, saying it is looking for good things to come of the integration of the two companies.
Marchionne made his predictions based on the increasing overlap of management and procurement between the two automakers.
