In 2000, General Motors and Fiat formed an alliance in which the American company gained 20 percent of the Italian manufacturer’s shares in exchange for 5.1 percent of its own stock. Among other projects, the two companies jointly developed the Gamma platform for B-segment cars that underpinned the 2005 Fiat Punto and the 2007 Opel Corsa.
Fiat’s partnership with GM was short-lived though, and was eventually dissolved – but not before the Italians got US$2 billion dollars as part of the original agreement.
Well, we don’t know how to say “if at first you don’t succeed, try again” in Italian, but Sergio Marchionne surely does – and despite the earlier failure, commented during the Detroit Motor Show that Fiat and Chrysler would be “willing participants” if General Motors wanted to discuss Opel tying up with another manufacturer.
On Monday, Marchionne said that European carmakers should be ready for “another round of consolidation”, fuelling rumors about a possible merger with PSA Peugeot Citroen.
Marchionne dismissed the rumors the following day: “I saw (Peugeot CEO) Phillipe Varin last night for dinner, and the topic was not on the table”. He did not, however, completely rule out any tie up, since he added that “We continue to be open to suggestions and opportunities.”
GM vice chairman Steve Girsky who also had dinner with Marchionne said that the Fiat-Chrysler CEO did not discuss the possibility of an Opel tie-up.
In any case, Girsky stated that “Opel is not for sale”, adding that GM is “committed to returning our European business to sustained profitability. There’s a lot of work to do.”
That’s quite a change of heart from a company that during the 2009 crisis, tried to offload Opel and Vauxhall to Magna International and the Russian Sberbank, before that deal also came apart.
Story References: Detnews
