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Fiat wants to form new company to combine Chrysler and GM Europe

 
4 2,058 views May 4, 2009

The Court has issued an indefinite stay on the sale of Chrysler to Fiat so it can review a creditor appeal

The Court has issued an indefinite stay on the sale of Chrysler to Fiat so it can review a creditor appeal

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Fiat has confirmed that it wants to acquire General Motors' European operations and to do so the Italian auto giant may form a new company to combine its Fiat car brands (Fiat, Lancia, Alfa Romeo) along with Chrysler and any acquired GM entities. The information was revealed in a statement issued by Fiat’s board on Sunday, which also stated that the new company would earn more than $106 billion in annual revenues and become the world's second-largest auto group after Toyota.

Fiat's board "expressed its full support” for the initiative which will begin in the next few weeks with an assessment of the viability of such an acquisition. Speaking with the Financial Times, Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne said he wanted to join Fiat’s auto division with Opel, Vauxhall and even Saab. Along with Chrysler, the new entity would have sales of 6 million to 7 million vehicles a year.

Marchionne also said he hopes to complete the transaction by the end of May and list shares of the new company, tentatively called Fiat/Opel, by the middle of the year. Major hurdles to the deal, however, are a rival bid for GM’s European operations from Magna International as well as opposition from German trade unions.

If the deal goes ahead, Fiat and Opel will be able to merge a number of platforms, including A, B, C, and D segment architectures, and reap more than $1 billion in synergies.

Marchionne is a strong believer of mass consolidations and even predicts that the future landscape of the auto industry will see only six carmakers survive - one American house, one German of size, one French-Japanese, maybe with an extension in the U.S., one in Japan, one in China and one potential European player.



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Comments (4)

  1. ma_54chevyman avatar 54chevyman Posted: 5/4/2009 5:37am PDT

    Fiat/Opel that sounds good it allows Fiat to give the US its Technology and gain access to our market but then for a bargain price obtain GM's technology and a very viable market share. Forget about it GM and don't sell Opel but sell them Saab instead a higher end company which gives them access to GM's platforms but maintains a solid footing for GM in Europe! Come on Obama don't give away the farm!!!!!!!!!!!
     
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  2. ma_Michael D avatar Michael D Posted: 5/4/2009 7:31am PDT

    If a larger Fiat (super company) is created including a majority stake in Opel, and 20% (later 35%) of Chrysler, and reports indicate that this is a spun-off company, what happens to Ferrari and Maserati as a result of this?

    I understand that Maserati is managed via Alfa-Romeo, and there is sharing with Ferrari.
     
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  3. ma_NoNameDenton avatar NoNameDenton Posted: 5/4/2009 7:34am PDT

    I am reminded of GM and Ford which bought up lots of comapnies and became so big, look what happened to them
     
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  4. ma_saabfan avatar saabfan Posted: 5/4/2009 9:42am PDT

    History will repeat itself.
     
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