Fazda
Honorary Master
Was just reading this on iol...
May 5, 2009
By Simon Sturdee
The boss of Italy's Fiat drummed up support in Berlin on Monday for his audacious plans to snap up GM's European arm and combine it with the bankrupt Chrysler to create a new global auto giant.
Sergio Marchionne met German ministers to tout what he called "a marriage made in heaven" to create a new behemoth with revenues of $106-billion from making six or seven million vehicles a year.
The new firm, which Marchionne wants to see quoted on stock exchanges, would be second only to Japan's Toyota, bigger than General Motors and Ford, and around the same size as Germany's VW, Europe's biggest automaker
The new firm would be second only to Japan's Toyota.
Under one roof would be Fiat, GM's Opel, Vauxhall and Saab, and the fallen US giant Chrysler, in which Fiat agreed last week to take an initial 20 percent stake, rising to 51 percent if Chrysler paid back huge state loans.
It would make everything from Jeep SUV's in the US to Opel's mid-range Astra and Insignia and Fiat's tiny but successful Fiat 500.
Opel forms the core of GM's European operations and Marchionne needs the approval of Chancellor Angela Merkel's government in Berlin for any deal to go through -- something Marchionne wants within 30 days.
GM has been trying for some time to offload a majority stake in Opel and the German government might be prepared to sweeten any deal by offering state-backed guarantees on its loans.
GM Europe executives in March presented Berlin with a restructuring proposal that included €3
It would make everything from Jeep SUV's to the Fiat 500.3-billion in public aid from Germany and other European countries where it has factories. GM has 55 600 employees in Europe, including 26 000 at Opel in Germany, and, with September elections fast approaching, Merkel is keen to avert a collapse of the firm - an industrial icon that's been around since the 19th century.
However, economy minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg and foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who were to have met Marchionne on Monday, will take some convincing.
Zu Guttenberg warned in the Bild am Sonntag newspaper this weekend: "Anybody interested in Opel has to present a long-term vision. We're not going to tolerate any financial adventures with taxpayers' money."
UNIONS SCEPTICAL
Steinmeier told a news conference on Monday that he had not yet been given details on Fiat's offer and that the Italian firm was only one of several interested parties.
Germany's powerful trade unions were also sceptical, with IG Metall chief Armin Schild telling the Tagesspiegel newspaper that he opposed a deal with Fiat. Opel "will not be strengthened but weakened and the domination over Opel would not end, it would be moved from Detroit to Turin", Schild said, preferring a tie-up with Canadian auto parts maker Magna.
"You're always taking a big gamble when you do something completely new," Marchionne told the Financial Times, which estimated that as many as 9000 jobs could be cut in the merger.
If Marchionne's vision becomes reality, Fiat would emerge as one of the winners of the global recession by seizing advantage of the devastating crisis that has engulfed the Detroit Big Three.
CHRYSLER TO FOLLOW?
Chrysler, the 90-year-old No.3 US automaker, filed for bankruptcy last Thursday, crushed under a mountain of debt and dealt a fatal blow by the dizzying slump in the number of cars being bought worldwide.
The once-mighty GM, until recently the world's biggest automaker, is not far behind and analysts expect the firm to follow Chrysler's lead and throw in the towel soon. - AFP
May 5, 2009
By Simon Sturdee
The boss of Italy's Fiat drummed up support in Berlin on Monday for his audacious plans to snap up GM's European arm and combine it with the bankrupt Chrysler to create a new global auto giant.
Sergio Marchionne met German ministers to tout what he called "a marriage made in heaven" to create a new behemoth with revenues of $106-billion from making six or seven million vehicles a year.
The new firm, which Marchionne wants to see quoted on stock exchanges, would be second only to Japan's Toyota, bigger than General Motors and Ford, and around the same size as Germany's VW, Europe's biggest automaker
The new firm would be second only to Japan's Toyota.
Under one roof would be Fiat, GM's Opel, Vauxhall and Saab, and the fallen US giant Chrysler, in which Fiat agreed last week to take an initial 20 percent stake, rising to 51 percent if Chrysler paid back huge state loans.
It would make everything from Jeep SUV's in the US to Opel's mid-range Astra and Insignia and Fiat's tiny but successful Fiat 500.
Opel forms the core of GM's European operations and Marchionne needs the approval of Chancellor Angela Merkel's government in Berlin for any deal to go through -- something Marchionne wants within 30 days.
GM has been trying for some time to offload a majority stake in Opel and the German government might be prepared to sweeten any deal by offering state-backed guarantees on its loans.
GM Europe executives in March presented Berlin with a restructuring proposal that included €3
It would make everything from Jeep SUV's to the Fiat 500.3-billion in public aid from Germany and other European countries where it has factories. GM has 55 600 employees in Europe, including 26 000 at Opel in Germany, and, with September elections fast approaching, Merkel is keen to avert a collapse of the firm - an industrial icon that's been around since the 19th century.
However, economy minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg and foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who were to have met Marchionne on Monday, will take some convincing.
Zu Guttenberg warned in the Bild am Sonntag newspaper this weekend: "Anybody interested in Opel has to present a long-term vision. We're not going to tolerate any financial adventures with taxpayers' money."
UNIONS SCEPTICAL
Steinmeier told a news conference on Monday that he had not yet been given details on Fiat's offer and that the Italian firm was only one of several interested parties.
Germany's powerful trade unions were also sceptical, with IG Metall chief Armin Schild telling the Tagesspiegel newspaper that he opposed a deal with Fiat. Opel "will not be strengthened but weakened and the domination over Opel would not end, it would be moved from Detroit to Turin", Schild said, preferring a tie-up with Canadian auto parts maker Magna.
"You're always taking a big gamble when you do something completely new," Marchionne told the Financial Times, which estimated that as many as 9000 jobs could be cut in the merger.
If Marchionne's vision becomes reality, Fiat would emerge as one of the winners of the global recession by seizing advantage of the devastating crisis that has engulfed the Detroit Big Three.
CHRYSLER TO FOLLOW?
Chrysler, the 90-year-old No.3 US automaker, filed for bankruptcy last Thursday, crushed under a mountain of debt and dealt a fatal blow by the dizzying slump in the number of cars being bought worldwide.
The once-mighty GM, until recently the world's biggest automaker, is not far behind and analysts expect the firm to follow Chrysler's lead and throw in the towel soon. - AFP
