Fiat is readying a loan for as much as $10 billion to purchase the remaining 41.5 percent of Chrysler from the UAW’s retiree health-care trust.
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Fiat-Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne isn’t one to sit idle. The head of both automakers recently said that he is actively searching for possible automotive alliances.
Marchionne has always been a firm believer that automakers should collaborate in sharing development and production costs. ”We’re on the move,” Marchionne said on the sidelines of an industry event in Brussels, “We can be an active partner everywhere around the world.”
The CEO is not limiting himself to any automaker partnership either, stating that they will look at every viable option, even though there might not be many left in Europe. As for Asia, Suzuki and Mazda are among those that Marchionne is looking at, but won’t limit himself to these saying “there are many opportunities to look at.”
Marchionne also addressed the possible partnership between General Motors and Peugeot saying, “It’s crucial that the European situation is dealt with. If the hypothetical GM-Peugeot deal goes ahead, I hope they will take on the question of overcapacity. They must do it.”
The CEO also acknowledged that this year could see decline of volume in Europe and said that even the most optimistic of forecasts for new vehicles sales in Europe are flat through 2014.
[Source: Automotive News]
Sergio Marchionne, CEO of Fiat-Chrysler, is looking forward to 2013 for being a big year for the Italian-American brand. Marchionne is looking ahead to a collection of new Chrysler products, the reintroduction of Alfa Romeo back to America and have a chance to fully combine Fiat and Chrysler into one company.
Fiat, who now owns more than 50-percent of Chrysler, is waiting quietly for Europe’s currency crisis to clear up before deciding on future vehicle investments in the country. And with five money-losing plants in Italy, Chrysler has ironically become Fiat’s strong point in their portfolio. Chrysler made up two-thirds of Fiat’s third-quarter profits thanks to the rebounding US auto industry. On the other hand, Fiat has had to deal with the euro crisis and rigid Italian labor laws.
Looking towards the future however, Chrysler will be launching the Dodge Dart next year which is their compact car built on a Fiat platform to compete with Toyota‘s Corolla and Honda‘s Civic. But 2013 is when everything will be coming together for Fiat-Chrysler, with several refreshed Jeep models making their debuts, and the relaunch of Alfa Romeo into the United States.
We’re not sure how well received Alfa Romeo will be in the US, considering Fiat sales hasn’t exactly gone well in America. Chrysler has sold less than 18,000 500s this year, well shy of their original 50,000 target. We just hope they get a little more clever this time around with Alfa Romeo and avoid any sort of collaboration with J. Lo. Seriously Chrysler, more Fiats would sell if you didn’t associate it with J. Lo.
[Source: Automotive News]