Fiat-Chrysler: firmato accordo per una alleanza

[TONI]

probabilmente Chrysler ha sia bisogno di un' auto piccola su pianale 500 che una "500" nel senso di modello trainante, rappresentativo che faccia ritornare il cliente americano al marchio.

Mi rendo conto di essere parecchio ignorante sulla storia automobilistica americana perche' non saprei dire quale tipologia di modello possa fungere da icona per Chrysler

[Regazzoni]

Già che ci siamo riporto gli articoli originali dell'intervista dei Canadesi di "The Globe and Mail" a Marchionne.

Uso il plurale, perchè curiosamente hanno diviso l'intervista in due diversi articoli, entrambi pubblicati oggi, alla stessa ora, dagli stessi autori. Mah.

Marchionne's gamble

The Italian-Canadian head of Fiat has engineered the turnaround of the Italian car maker, which was on the brink just a few years ago. Can he repeat the magic in a hook-up with struggling Chrysler?

TURIN and TORONTO — For a man who is about to make the biggest bet of his career, Sergio Marchionne looks remarkably relaxed.

He smokes languidly. His Muratti cigarettes fill the ashtray on his big, cluttered desk in Fiat's headquarters next to the famous Lingotti building, the auto maker's half-kilometre-long former factory with the famous rooftop test track. His trademark uniform is a dark jersey; he almost never wears a jacket and tie. This is a man who could be on a golf course.

There are several models of the new Fiat Cinquecento (Italian for 500) on his desk. The Cinquecento, launched in 2007, sealed Fiat's remarkable turnaround story, making Mr. Marchionne something of a hero in the automotive world. Indeed, Fiat was a lost cause when he joined it in 2004. Today, it is one of the industry's most profitable players.

The Italian-Canadian executive is gambling he can work the same magic on Chrysler. “It took me a long time to get comfortable with this notion [of a Chrysler partnership],” Mr. Marchionne said. “To us it's a huge step. Fiat Group's reputation is on the line. I can only tell you we are going to treat this with the same level of intensity that we treated Fiat.”

Fiat's turnaround plan for the No. 3 Detroit auto maker, he said, hinges on the “acknowledgment of the fact that we're poor,” referring to the newly impoverished state of the global auto industry.

That means Fiat will invest no cash in Chrysler if it manages to form a partnership agreement backed by the U.S. government. Instead, Fiat would transfer technology and tools for making small cars and fuel-efficient engines to Chrysler plants in North America starting next year.

Production of these smaller cars would fill a gigantic hole in Chrysler's product portfolio.

That move is worth $8-billion (U.S.) to $12-billion and is an investment Chrysler wouldn't be able to finance on its own, Chrysler chairman Bob Nardelli figures.

On paper, a Fiat-Chrysler strategic alliance is closer to the “automotive marriage made in heaven” that then Daimler Benz AG chairman Jurgen Schrempp crowed about when the German company took over Chrysler Corp. in 1998.

Chrysler has no subcompact cars, and instead has a lineup of compacts that are fading and new mid-sized cars that have flopped. It is virtually invisible outside North America. With Fiat it gets the cars, plus a distribution network in two major markets, Europe and South America, where Fiat has 300 dealers in Brazil alone.

Fiat, on the other hand, has almost no presence in the U.S. and Canada except for its Ferrari and Maserati brands. The deal would give it access to Chrysler plants on this side of the Atlantic Ocean with lots of spare manufacturing capacity and an instant dealership network for Fiat products.

The key question is whether Chrysler can survive until the first Fiat-designed small and medium-sized cars hit North American showrooms in 2011.

Mr. Marchionne, who graduated from the University of Windsor in the hometown of Chrysler Canada, said Chrysler's lineup of minivans, sport utility vehicles and larger cars “are adequate for the market” and should keep the company ticking over.

Whether Chrysler survives until 2011 hinges first of all on reaching a deal with Fiat by April 30. If not, the U.S. and Canadian governments cut off funding, demand repayment of $4-billion (U.S.) and $1-billion (Canadian) in loans and the company almost certainly goes into bankruptcy protection, perhaps liquidation.

If that short-term hurdle is overcome, the success of vehicles produced by a combined Fiat-Chrysler entity is “a long-term proposition,” said industry analyst John Casesa, managing partner of Casesa Shapiro Group LLC.

“If they're sold as Fiat brands, it's going to take a while to build the brand equity,” Mr. Casesa said. “If they're sold as Chrysler products, it's going to take a while to educate the customer to buy a small car from Chrysler.”

Mr. Marchionne is no stranger to turning around an auto maker on the brink.

Born in Italy and raised in Toronto, he took over Fiat in 2004 when it, like Chrysler, was on the verge of insolvency. Last year, after a series of successful product launches and cost reduction efforts, it was one of the world's most profitable auto makers. It expects to turn a profit of €1-billion ($1.61-billion Canadian) this year, despite the severe European economic downturn and its relatively small size. Size is an issue for Mr. Marchionne, who predicted in December that only six major car makers would survive the recession.

An auto maker, he said, needs to produce more than 5.5 million autos a year to generate adequate returns, with a least one million cars produced from each platform – the basic underbody and components of a vehicle. Fiat, whose brands include Lancia and Alfa Romeo, manufactured 2.2 million autos in 2008.

Chrysler produced 1.1 million vehicles and sold 2.01 million.

“This is [Fiat's] best shot to get very significant scale in manufacturing and distribution, but I think there will be other opportunities to get access to capacity and distribution,” Mr. Casesa said.

It might have made more sense, he said, for Fiat to purchase the Saturn brand from General Motors. But Mr. Marchionne has no interest in Saturn. “It's not a brand I have any affinity for,” he said.

Fiat has been circling Chrysler for many years. In the late 1980s, Fiat, then still under the control of Gianni Agnelli, the Italian industrialist who died in 2003, tried to buy Chrysler. The current partnership negotiations actually began a year ago, before the worst of the financial crisis hit.

Skepticism about Fiat's revival plans for Chrysler abounds, especially since Fiat would pump no new money into the American company.

Some analysts say Americans have little appetite for small cars and that the small Japanese cars on the market, such as the Toyota Corolla and the Honda Civic, which have good reputations for quality and value, would prove strong competitors to any new small Chryslers. The non-believers note Chrysler was part of Germany's Daimler for a decade, with no noticeable improvements to Chrysler's product portfolio. Mr. Marchionne agrees that Daimler worked no magic at Chrysler, but questioned whether Daimler really wanted to share its superior German technology with its American subsidiary. Fiat has no qualms about sharing technology with Chrysler, he said.

“We will do whatever it takes to make Chrysler successful,” he said

[Stefano73]

Ieri ho sentito al TGR piemonete che 500 in USA potrebbe andare già l'anno prossimo e che la 149 (che davano come erede di 159) verrà prodotta negli stabilimenti canadesi....un pò di confusione su alfa.

[Regazzoni]

Ieri ho sentito al TGR piemonete che 500 in USA potrebbe andare già l'anno prossimo e che la 149 (che davano come erede di 159) verrà prodotta negli stabilimenti canadesi....un pò di confusione su alfa.

[T a u r u s]

Fiat Would Seek to Buy Chrysler Assets in Bankruptcy (Update2)

By Antonio Ligi and Marco Bertacche

April 15 (Bloomberg) -- Fiat SpA may consider buying Chrysler LLC assets if the two don’t forge an alliance and the Italian company’s troubled U.S. counterpart declares bankruptcy, Chief Executive Officer Sergio Marchionne said.

Chapter 11 bankruptcy isn’t Chrysler’s best option and the Auburn Hills, Michigan-based automaker shouldn’t try to survive by liquidating assets, Marchionne told reporters in Zurich today.

“Our preference obviously is to find a solution” with the U.S. Treasury, unions and lenders, Marchionne said. “Selling assets from a company that is in liquidation is not necessarily the best way to achieve value for any of the people involved.”

Fiat is seeking to take an equity stake in Chrysler if the U.S. automaker can eliminate most of its bank debt and win concessions from labor unions by the end of the month. The U.S. government set a deadline of April 30 to strike an alliance with the Italian automaker or risk losing government loans that are keeping the carmaker operating.

“Everyone would be interested in Chrysler assets in case of bankruptcy, not just Fiat,” said Gualberto Ranieri, a spokesman for the automaker.

Chrysler still hasn’t reached an agreement with banks and unions, Marchionne said, adding that he sees “no reason why” an accord can’t be reached by April 30.

“It will be difficult to predict how it will end until the last day of negotiations,” said Umberto Bertele, head of Milan’s MIP business school. “They will find an agreement with unions at the end. Banks are the main problem.”

Other Alliances?

Turin-based Fiat isn’t trying to extend the U.S. deadline, Marchionne said. The company will seek other alliances, both in Europe and North America, if it can’t reach an accord with Chrysler, he said.

Asked whether he would be willing to become CEO of Chrysler, Marchionne said he would be available to do all that’s needed to salvage the U.S. carmaker.

Plans for a Fiat-Chrysler partnership will be abandoned if the U.S. carmaker’s unions don’t agree to cost reductions, Marchionne told the Toronto-based Globe and Mail newspaper in a story published today.

The U.S. government is considering further support for both Chrysler and General Motors Corp. as auto sales plummet amid the global recession.

Fiat had a “tough” first quarter, the CEO said. The company plans to announce results on April 23.

Marchionne brought Fiat back to profit in 2005, turning the laggard of the European auto industry into one of the region’s most fashionable brands with the retro 500 small car, the remake of the Punto and the Bravo compact. Marchionne said Fiat’s CNH Global NV U.S. farm-equipment unit is working on a request for U.S. funds.

To contact the reporters on this story: Antonio Ligi in Zurich at aligi@bloomberg.net Marco Bertacche in Milan at mbertacche@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: April 15, 2009 16:44 EDT(22:44 CET)

[Regazzoni]

Svelato un altro segreto di pulcinella.

Cioè che, in un modo o nell'altro, Fiat è apposto: se l'alleanza non parte o non viene approvata, Chrysler va in bancarotta e Fiat si compra qualche pezzo utile in saldo tra quelli che gli fanno più comodo. 8)

Siamo proprio nel pieno della fase in cui Fiat mostra il più chiaramente possibile che è lei ad avere il coltello dalla parte del manico nell' affaire Chrysler.

[Coaster]

Svelato un altro segreto di pulcinella.

Cioè che, in un modo o nell'altro, Fiat è apposto: se l'alleanza non parte o non viene approvata, Chrysler va in bancarotta e Fiat si compra qualche pezzo utile in saldo tra quelli che gli fanno più comodo. 8)

Siamo proprio nel pieno della fase in cui Fiat mostra il più chiaramente possibile che è lei ad avere il coltello dalla parte del manico nell' affaire Chrysler.

[antoniocalderone]

Svelato un altro segreto di pulcinella.

Cioè che, in un modo o nell'altro, Fiat è apposto: se l'alleanza non parte o non viene approvata, Chrysler va in bancarotta e Fiat si compra qualche pezzo utile in saldo tra quelli che gli fanno più comodo. 8)

Siamo proprio nel pieno della fase in cui Fiat mostra il più chiaramente possibile che è lei ad avere il coltello dalla parte del manico nell' affaire Chrysler.

[Regazzoni]

qualche centinaia di reply fa avevo fatto un'ipotesi del genere!!

mi sembra la cosa piú sensata (sempre che non riescano a trovare un'accordo, é chiaro), certo peró che cosí perdi l'americanitá, quindi devi spendere un po' di piú per ricreare i presupposti di crescita, comunque, almeno cosí non devi accollarti certi fardelli della casa americana a priori

[alettone75]

beh direi proprio che Chrysler il coltello dalla parte del manico in questa storia non l'ha mai avuto...

Rimango anche io stupito dalla grande differenza di paga oraria tra le varie case costruttrici e mi sembra chiaro che a questo punto i dipendenti di Chrysler dovranno accettare un ridimensionamento della retribuzione visto lo stato in cui versa la loro azienda.