A French-Italian Connection? Fiat And PSA Said To Be Dating

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

For days, Fiat’s CEO Sergio Marchionne had made noises that his company cannot survive alone and is in urgent need of a strong partner to live to tell the tale in the nasty car business. He may have found a suitor, the Italian business paper Milano Finanza (sub) reports: PSA, maker of Peugeot and Citroen. According to the paper, the marriage is being arranged at the highest levels: Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and French President Nicolas Sarkozy are discussing to tie the knot between their countries’ automakers. There could even be a dowry: Berlusconi is currently thinking about aid to the auto sector. Except for Fiat, Italy hasn’t much of an auto sector. PSA and Fiat are no strangers. They have two joint ventures, one for trucks and one for the “Eurovan” MPVs. Combined output of the two companies was 6.2m units last year. A combined Fiat-PSA would have a good shot at the number 4 slot, with Toyota first, GM second, and VW third. Fiat-PSA would have to duke it out with Ford and Renault-Nissan. What’s the prospective couple saying to all this?

Marchionne had recently supposed that globally, there is only room for six global players in the automotive world : “By the time we finish with this in the next 24 months, as far as mass-producers are concerned, we’re going to end up with one American house, one German of size; one French-Japanese, maybe with an extension in the U.S.; one in Japan; one in China and one other potential European player.”

Apart from fast-talking Marchionne, the potential couple is keeping quiet. Fiat and PSA spokespeople had no immediate comment. John Elkann, chairman of holding company IFI, Fiat’s controlling shareholder, will meet Berlusconi on Wednesday, Milano Finanza said. And let’s not forget, the French Connection is known for its great car chases.

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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  • TaxedAndConfused TaxedAndConfused on Dec 15, 2008

    If they merge together I think the merger will be on the components and distribution side rather then the model line ups. Competitors seem to use each others bits quite a lot : Ford use some PSA engines in the Fester GM sell a version of a Renault van Fiat and PSA sell mini MPVs developed together, as well as other vans. Some GM and FIAT models share engines Nobody is totally independent any more.

  • Charly Charly on Dec 15, 2008

    The van in question is designed by Renault but build by GM.

  • MaintenanceCosts It's not a Benz or a Jag / it's a 5-0 with a rag /And I don't wanna brag / but I could never be stag
  • 3-On-The-Tree Son has a 2016 Mustang GT 5.0 and I have a 2009 C6 Corvette LS3 6spd. And on paper they are pretty close.
  • 3-On-The-Tree Same as the Land Cruiser, emissions. I have a 1985 FJ60 Land Cruiser and it’s a beast off-roading.
  • CanadaCraig I would like for this anniversary special to be a bare-bones Plain-Jane model offered in Dynasty Green and Vintage Burgundy.
  • ToolGuy Ford is good at drifting all right... 😉
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