The news has been quite a shock after investors met in Turin yesterday to finalise the end of Fiat in Italy, what seems like part of the long term plan after the company merged with Chrysler. The Italian-Canadian chief executive Sergio Marchionne wants Fiat incorporated under Dutch law, based in the UK and listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
“Marchionne doesn’t want to abandon Italy; he wants FCA and himself to be global players, and the centre of gravity of FCA has to be repositioned in order to do that,” said Erik Gordon, a professor at the University of Michigan. “It is a little sad for Italy.”
To be able to fight at the heavy weight level Fiat needs to combine all its resources with the US carmaker, And together they can better compete with the current heavyweights like General Motors, Volkswagen and Toyota.
“Marchionne needs the lights of Wall Street,” where Fiat Chrysler plans to locate its primary listing by mid-October, Vincenzo Longo, of IG Group, added. There’s more opportunity there than a “peripheral place like what the Italian market has become.”
Link – independent.ie
Campbell Robertson thoughts?
Inevitable unfortunately. As mentioned in the article, the Italian economy isn’t robust enough to support what FCA needs to be. they need strong shareholder support to remain as one of the leading car manufacturers in the world, I believe they are currently 7th. When you think that makers like Ford, GM, Volkswagen, Toyota etc are ahead of them those companies are all based in countries with sound economies.
You can take FIAT out of Italy but you can’t take Italy out of FIAT