Fiat/Mazda Alliance May Bear More Fruit, With Mazda Cars Built At Fiat, Chrysler Plants
Although news articles on the topic are fairly thin, it seems almost inevitable that Mazda and Fiat will continue doing business together, with the next step involving Mazdas built at Fiat/Chrysler plants.
Articles in Automotive News and Just-Auto have quotes from Sergio Marchionne expounding on his openness to alliances and the “difficult economics” of creating new platforms and engines independently. Our sources indicate that further collaboration between Fiat and Mazda are going to happen.
Mazda needs to form an alliance with someone or risk perishing. Fiat and Chrysler plants have excess capacity, and Mazda is facing a big problem with a strong yen impacting their exports. Their new factory in Mexico can’t come soon enough, and North American built Mazdas would be a lifeline of sorts for the company.
The deeper business synergies between Mazda and Fiat are somewhat obscure, but from a strictly product-focused standpoint, the two companies seem to share an ethos for more compact, fun-to-drive cars. Mazda manages to stretch few resources into some compelling products and technologies, and a Fiat tie-up could ease some of the burden of being an independent automaker, while passing some lessons of their own back to Turin and Detroit.
More by Derek Kreindler
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Fiat is the savior of Chrysler. Without Fiat, where would Chrysler be now? In the dead company file? Fiat invested money for redesigned cars and it is paying off. The US is coming out of the recession and car sales are booming. Chrysler would not be here to enjoy increased sales if not for Fiat.
I am hoping Fiat/Mazda alliance will at least give birth to Alfa mx-5 or Miata Spider. I can't wait !
Fish, meet bicycle. Bicycle, meet Fish. This sounds like all of the usual synergy/marketing/BS doublespeak whenever two companies are feeling each other out to see if this union would work. Contrary to popular opinion, Fiat isn't all that healthy. Like it's Chrysler owning predecessor, Daimler, they're making money off of the North American product but the home market isn't all that great. This has been discussed on this blog before. Mazda is in a world of hurt, and appears to be desperate to gain another partner immediately, at least one not named Toyota. I can't imagine the Sumitomo keiretsu letting their business interest twist in the wind, so something will come along to help them out. I have a hard time imagining what it is these two companies could do together, even if a new Fiata were to come out of the early talks. Is Fiat still involved with Suzuki, which produced the Sedici (SX4 in the States)? I can actually see more possibilities with Suzuki vs. Mazda. Suzuki would give Fiat/Chrysler entry into SE Asian markets that F/C has a slim chance to enter. Suzuki could get solid NA distribution and/or product through an alliance or merger with F/C. I could see the 'synergies' happening there. Mazda and C/F in NA have a lot of overlap. I think it would take a long time, with tightly focused coordination to give each enough room to move in the same market without stepping on each other's toes.
Great. Well engineered cars built by the UAW with Chrysler management. The inverse of shining s&!t.