Ever since Italy’s Fiat Group and Japan’s Mazda Motors announced plans to join forces for the development and production of their next MX-5 and Alfa Rome Spider roadsters, the newsvine has been abuzz with numerous rumors about a deeper relationship between the two automakers.
Today, however, Fiat Chairman John Elkann played down one of these speculations regarding the expansion of the partnership over time. “We have no plan to buy a stake in Mazda,” said Elkann, speaking on the sidelines of an annual shareholder meeting in Italy.
On the other hand, Reuters reported that Fiat will move ahead with its plans to buy another 3 percent of the Chrysler Group in July, increasing its stake in the Detroit automaker from 58.5 percent to 61.5 percent.
The Italian automaker wants to eventually take over 100 percent of Chrysler, though Reuters noted that Elkann declined to provide further information when asked about the timing of the move.
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