Fiat Rumors in Europe

Like you said, they are rumors. Once something is announced then we will decide..

 

What a joke. The only chance both companies have is soaking US tax payers through bail out money. Another NWO(New World Order) scheme.

If things fail then it's bankruptcy time until someone picks up the pieces.(F would be one of the pieces)

 

TORONTO (Reuters) – Ken Lewenza, president of the Canadian Auto Workers union, said on Tuesday that he had met with the head of Italian carmaker Fiat SpA, Sergio Marchionne, who told him that Chrysler is likely to seek bankruptcy protection temporarily in the United States.

Fiat Chief Executive Marchionne "was careful, he said: 'You know Ken, a lot of things can happen in two days, but if I was a betting man, I would suggest Chrysler is going to fall into Chapter 11'," Lewenza said.

Lewenza paraphrased Marchionne as saying: "We may need to do that, regardless of all the bondholders and stakeholders coming to the pump, there's still a lot of work that has to be done, but the Canadian plants are about as well positioned as you could possibly be."

He said the meeting with Marchionne, and Chrysler Vice Chairman and President Tom LaSorda, on Monday night at a steak house in Toronto lasted two hours and was very "respectful and cooperative".

CAW members voted late on Sunday in favor of a new collective agreement with Chrysler that cuts the overall labor cost of Chrysler's 8,000 unionized workers in Canada by about C$19 an hour.

Lewenza said Marchionne acknowledged the sacrifices made by the union's members in the concession deal, but added that the deal would allow the Canadian plants to operate in the future under a Chrysler-Fiat partnership.

The concessions were designed to help Chrysler make a Thursday deadline imposed by the U.S. and Canadian governments to prove its viability and qualify for billions of dollars in long-term public aid.

The governments said Chrysler is not viable on its own and said a strategic alliance with Fiat is necessary if the automaker is to receive the government loans.

Lewenza said that Marchionne told him he was "looking with confidence about moving forward, but anything could happen in the next two days that could just drive us right out of the game."

($1=$1.22 Canadian)

 

TV news here yesterday announced that Daimler will sell its' 19% stake in Chrysler on the open market. It'll be interesting to see how that goes.

What puzzles me is that there is something Fiat is seeing that Daimler doesn't, or vice versa. I don't think that government assistance has anything to do with it, in the end of the day, a loss is still a loss, and a bancrupcy is still just that.

From what reaches me I thought the partnership was playing more at a distribution level rather than a direct participation, has that changed?

 

Supposedly, they are to sign the agreement tomorrow...Let's see!

 

2 years? Wow, that's a long time to keep a money losing organisation on the rails just for marketing purposes.All this would make much more sense if Chrysler were to build or assemble cars for Fiat in the US. I just don't see how you can keep a manufacturer afloat by letting them sell someone elses finished product.

 

Chrysler is filing Chapter 11 today, and not a minute too soon.

 

I am not familiar with US legislation: what exactly does Chapter 11 mean?

 

Chapter 11 is a chapter of the United States Bankruptcy Code, which permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Chapter 11 bankruptcy is available to every business, whether organized as a corporation or sole proprietorship, and to individuals, although it is most prominently used by corporate entities. In contrast, Chapter 7 governs the process of a liquidation bankruptcy, while Chapter 13 provides a reorganization process for the majority of private individuals.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapter_11

 

The FIat rumors were quickly dismissed by the mkts.
Insofar as the govt bailing out Fiat, I believe they will. If they can bailout Cheese makers, they will bailout Fiat. Note- willingness and ability are two different things.

 

The Germans failed because they could not adjust to the mentality here, and we could not adjust to the way they wanted to do business. It could be better with the Italians.

Fiat's biggest hurdle is meeting US crash standards. They have some nice cars in Mexico, but few have crash bags.

 

I say to hell with them, let 'em fail! I'm just sick and tired of all these automotive companies going bankrupt and then searching for the government's hand in aid. These people need to start making better choices and stop taking the tax payers money.

 

Are we gonna start seeing the Mutant X-Cars again?
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That's an interesting viewpoint. One would think with the sums and risks involved that such things would be determined before a significant part of shares changes hands, but then again, there are too many examples that prove otherwise. Rather silly if you ask me, much looks like playing Monopoly for grown-ups (I use the term lightly)

Regarding the crash-bags: did anyone ever research how many less crashes there would be in the US if all cars were reduced in size to Fiat average? And how much fuel that would save?

 

a dagger instead of an airbag would probably cut down on crash!
The avg American couldnt fit into the avg Fiat!

 

'Chrysler "bankruptcy" turning out to be another banker-bailout'

A group representing 20 Chrysler lenders, holding $1bn (£674m) in debt, are set to object to the firm's move into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8028427.stm

The US plundering continues.......

 

Common sense should be enough to realize that the Fed wouldn't let such a deal go through if Fiat were to be insolvent. Thankfully Fiat SpA is a public company, so it's not hard to dig up the information and put an end to such a ridiculous rumor. As of March 31, 2009, Fiat had 4.9BN Euros in cash, which is 1.3BN more than they had at the end of 2008. The company had positive cash flow from ops during the quarter, so this rumor doesn't make sense any way you look at it.

The argument posed that Fiat is probably looking to expand into the US market has a lot more merit to it. On top of that, Fiat is now looking to make a move to take over Opel in Germany, and last I checked the Chancellor wasn't handing out parachutes of cash to illiquid companies, so I doubt Fiat is looking at Opel just to get fuding from the German government.

As a sidenote, here's what Fiat's latest report said about Ferrari sales:

"For Q1 2009, Ferrari reported €441 million in revenues, down 3.3% over the corresponding period for 2008 due to
lower sales volumes which reflected the slowdown in the global economy.
A total of 1,571 cars were delivered to the network during the quarter, a 5% decrease over Q1 2008, while sales to
end-customers totalled 1,480 units (-10%). Of note is the positive sales performance of the new Ferrari California in
the second part of the quarter.
Ferrari closed the quarter with a trading profit of €54 million (€59 million for Q1 2008). Efficiency gains in production
costs and overhead substantially offset the negative impact of lower sales volumes and unfavourable exchange rates.
Ferrari started the year with the presentation of two new products, both unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show. The
Handling GT Evoluzione (HGTE) performance package for the 599 GTB Fiorano and the 599XX. The HGTE package
enhances the handling performance and responsiveness of the 599 GTB Fiorano. The 599XX, on the other hand, is
targeted at a select customer base which wants the highest level of technological innovation available."

This isn't all that bad, especially when compared to Maserati sales that were supposedly down 40.4% when compared to the same period in 2008!

Here's a link to their latest financial report:

http://www.fiatgroup.com/en-us/shai/banns/3/Documents/2009/1st_Quarter_2009.pdf

 

See the Euro NCAP ratings - many of the modern FIATs get 5 star ratings - things have changed a lot since they were last sold in the US. 2008 (including the 4th quarter which showed huge sales drops) profit was E1.7b on revenues of E59.4b and net debt E5.9b, so they're a whole lot sounder than any of the US carmarkers who couldn't turn a profit in the boom...
I'm with the guys who see this as a way for FIAT to get a full distribution network in the US for zero bucks.

 

Yes, I agree and it's a knife that cuts on both sides since it may pull a part of the dealers out of worse problems. I still fail to see the consequences of such a move for the Chrysler manufacturing side, unless they are going to assemble Fiats.
It would be interesting to know what kind of prognosis Fiat has for numbers sold in the US.

 

Time will tell, but we'll see if Fiat can deliver a QUALITY products in the US. Fiat still does not rank well in European surveys.

 

Bottom line - You'd get killed! Have you ever driven in the U.S.?

We have 3,000 miles coast to coast. TV and movies show the cities, but across most of our country, you can spend hours of 100 mph straight line driving with no other car in sight. The last thing you want to do is outrun a tornado in a little car doing 55, or get hit with a 75 mph blast of crosswind in a little car, or drive uphill and downhill through huge steep mountains in a little car that can't make it uphill and needs braking all the way downhill.

Little cars are great in the cities, but deadly on major highways where we share the road with the elements and multiple 18-wheelers.

 

LOL Neonzapper! You need to take a trip to Europe - most of the modern 'little' Fiats will leave your regular average US car (such as a Camry ) in the dust! In fact I think from memory the current Ritmo figures are on paper not much different from our 308's! (But don't get excited -I'm not suggesting they're comparable cars!). Our distances here in Australia are comparable to many in the US and my Fiating friends often enjoy 1600km weekend trips when they get around 5l/100k economy! Besides you guys should look on the bright side - you may get some Abarth 500s if the deal goes ahead!