Four months ago, Fiat Chrysler proclaimed it was quitting the dating scene after being snubbed by General Motors. But ever the hopeless romantic, the carmaker’s CEO is once again pining to be in the arms of another manufacturer.
Sergio Marchionne told reporters last week that he believes a future merger could be in the cards between his company and Toyota Motor, Volkswagen, or Ford Motor, Automotive News reports.
The CEO’s argument is that carmakers are throwing away piles of money by not merging and becoming more efficient.
“$10 billion of capital that could have been saved has been wasted” in the last year, claims Marchionne.
Other executives with the automaker echoed Marchionne’s sentiments over the weekend noting that the company’s ideas of a consolidated auto market are “unchanged” and “still actual.”
FCA Chairman John Elkann told shareholders in a letter last week that the company “needs two to tango” when it comes to spending billions of dollars on technology advancements, noting that “most of our competitors are busy with the great opportunities that technological disruption has to offer.”
Automotive News reports that Ford was quick to issue a statement following FCA’s renewed merger fever.
“As we consistently have said, Ford has no plan or interest other than to continue to accelerate our One Ford plan,” the company said.
Back in January, Marchionne all but abandoned efforts to consolidate the auto industry after just about everyone said “no, thanks.”
He went on to announce that FCA wasn’t going to enter into anything “as long as there are better alternatives out there than the ones we were being offered… that we should not be considering what I consider to be sub-optimal choices for the industry going forward.”
A year after ‘Confessions,’ FCA bosses revive merger talk [Automotive News]
by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist
No comments:
Post a Comment