According to Renault chairman Jean-Dominique Senart, Fiat Chrysler’s offer to merge with the French automaker is no longer on the table and is unlikely to be revived for the time being.
FCA withdrew from talks after the French state, which held a 15% stake in Renault, had pushed for guarantees and concessions that Fiat Chrysler weren’t willing to meet, reports Autonews Europe. However, the possibility of these talks happening again does exist.
“This matter is behind us today,” stated Senard during a hearing in the French senate earlier this week. He then went on to add that if merger talks with FCA “were to come back under conditions that are acceptable for all, I would be delighted.” Still, there is currently nothing on the table.
Had a merger between the two automotive giants gone through, it would have resulted in the world’s third-biggest automaker, although Renault’s main focus right now is its own alliance with Nissan, which had become strained following the arrest of Carlos Ghosn, who is now awaiting trial in Japan on financial misconduct charges.
Also read: Renault Could Cut Its Nissan Stake To Revive FCA Merger Talks
Nissan reportedly wants to reduce Renault’s influence internally and do something about the fact that the former owns 15% of the latter with no voting rights, whereas Renault owns 43% of Nissan with votes.
As far as FCA is concerned, both them and Renault know that joining forces could help everybody involved, including Nissan – giving the alliance a more global dimension, according to Senard, who also said that more consolidation in Europe would be needed in order to counter competition from China.
