Comments on: Fiat to take majority stake in Opel/Vauxhall?

By: Borat

Borat — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 18:44:07 +0000

carstuff, you forgot that there is France which accounts for 25% of cars made and sold in Europe. They are down due economy, but not out. GM already gave up Opel/Vauxhall. They can’t afford salaries.

By: parts guy

parts guy — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 17:23:53 +0000

Fiat+share in Opel+Saturn=a great shot for Fiat to have a successful return to the US market.

Fiat+Chrysler=RIP if the unions continue to indicate it is smarter to have no job than to share the pain to help Chrysler survive.

By: global_lightning

global_lightning — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 16:13:57 +0000

This puts even more pressure on Chrysler. Fiat knows that Chrysler will not survive without their help; if Fiat walks, Chrysler dies. It would be to Fiat’s advantage to let GM and/or Chrysler to go into bankrupcy, then swoop in and pick off the carcasses.

By: carstuff

carstuff — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 15:50:40 +0000

I do not see a one Europe car company. Perhaps 3-4.

VW/Porche/Audi
BMW-they probably need some hookup
MB
Fiat/Opel/GM

GM needs Opel for the midsize car engineering and will not want to give that up.

By: casualobserver

casualobserver — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 15:36:16 +0000

This makes much more sense from Fiat’s perspective. WIth Opel/Vauxhall, Fiat would then be in a perfect position to make a play for Saturn dealers in the US.
That would give them a US dealer network (one of the best) and a complementary line of vehicles, and give GM some cash to bolster its core brands (though it would lose significant market share in Europe).

Chrysler is really are a greater liability than an asset to Fiat.
When Chrysler files for bankruptcy next month, Nissan will make a play for Chrysler’s truck business and they or someone else will make a play for the Minivans and Jeep.
Nissan will sell Chrysler full size trucks through the Dodge or Nissan names (Dodsan?).
The Chrysler name will die. You can’t keep a brand alive for one vehicle (minivan).
The car lines and plants are doomed. When these vehicles are taken off the market (today they are giving them away), they will make room for other companies to sell quality cars at a profit and recover.
The existing Jeep, Dodge dealers have some hope if there is still a need for existing dealers as an outlet for Dodge Trucks & Jeep vehicles.
The existing truck plants will be picked up and run profitably on re-negotiated, less restrictive labor deals.

By: johnnycanuck

johnnycanuck — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 14:54:36 +0000

The auto industry is starting to resemble a box of hamsters- just crawling all over each other.

By: oldraven

oldraven — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 14:48:51 +0000

Carstuff, that was Marchionne himself who said that. He said he thought there would end up being one giant Motor Company for all of Europe.

By: PassingGear

PassingGear — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 14:42:21 +0000

The ‘-eat your cereal’ tag at the end has gotten really old dude. Give it a rest…

By: cereal

cereal — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 13:49:47 +0000

Well what an interesting turn of events.

Could we be seeing some odd hybrid of a GM/Chrysler/Fiat?

I’m watching.

-eat your cereal

By: carstuff

carstuff — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 13:34:46 +0000

Wow, looks like it is going to be a Chrysler/Fiat/GM mega corp.

Experts have been saying we will be down to less than 5 mega auto companies in a few years.

Where the heck did LLN get that GM was trying to sell all of Opel? First I heard of that. GM wants to keep Opel but sell a portion of it for the money.