WWTBAM Bored

It is an interesting agreement. I wouldn't call it a merger. I think we'll see shared platforms and engines but that's about it. Maybe there will be some shared management but this looks more like an a strategic partnership than a merger to me.

Fiat is getting a 35% stake in Chrysler but is not paying any money for that. Fiat gets more access to U.S. markets and to excess production capacity that Chrysler has. Chrysler is mostly getting expertise and capacity in producing small cars and diesels which it really needs. I don't think we'll see Fiats for sale here or any more Chrysler products in Europe but there will be some of each in a lot of the products that carry one brand name or the other.

This seems to mostly be about proving to the U.S. government that Chrysler is not going to fail in terms of bailout money.

Looks like I was wrong. I've now read several reports that Fiat plans to sell a few models in the U.S. under the Fiat or Alfa name. Chrysler will also build Fiat models and sell them as Chryslers. All would be built in North America but carry the different brand names.

One example that has been cited is building the Fiat 500 and Panda at the Chrysler plant in Toluca, Mexico where they were previously building PT Cruisers. The 500 would be sold as a Fiat and the Panda re-badged as a Dodge.

Fiat 500



Fiat Panda



The Alfa-Romeo MiTo might be sold as an Alfa or a Chrysler:

The Panda is a Fiat model?

I would have expected a name like that to be a Chinese brand...

Hmmm...looks like a 21st-Century Dodge Colt to me...

A much, much more logical marriage (imho) than Daimler-Chrysler was (though I loved the TV presence of Dr. Z), but very late in the evening. as far as surviving the world-wide winnowing out of the automaking losers.