Fiat's Elkann Says No To Mazda Stake
Published: May 30th, 2012
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Fiat’s John Elkann (not the one with a penchant for camo Ferraris and MTF escorts) put to rest any notions of Fiat acquiring a stake in Mazda, despite collaborating on some of their most iconic products.
Automotive News reports
Elkann did say that the company plans to increase its stake in Chrysler by 3 percent in July, to 61.5 percent, with 100 percent ownership occurring at an unspecified date in the future. How Fiat and Mazda plan to carry out their “alliance” without Mazda being absorbed in some way by Fiat is a great unknown. It wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect things to change very quickly given Mazda’s precarious financial situation and the way “plans” can change with little notice.
More by Derek Kreindler
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It's hard to buy something that you don't have the money to buy anyways. And Mazda is funded by Sumitomo -- Mazda is a small fish, Fiat is a bigger fish, Sumitomo is a whale.
I noted this the other day, there is a lot of overlap between Mazda and Fiat. They can cooperate on a roadster, but the other stuff noted in that post? It doesn't seem likely. While Mr. Elkann isn't dismissing the idea entirely, his view seem less than favorable to the idea. Additionally, other folks have covered other downfalls in this scenario in the posts above.
We are only talking about cars here. Doesn't Fiat make real trucks - not toy (PU)trucks? What about Mazda and their owner Sumitomo - do they make any trucks? Any sharing of parts there? Can you writers at TTAC recommend a good web site that does for the truck business what you do a wonderful job of for the world wide car business?
Fiat could still maintain a strong alliance with Mazda without absorbing them - even Ford, at their greatest extent, only owned about 1/3 of the company (which was still enough for veto power on the board, but certainly well short of total absorption). If all they want is a strategic partner and collaborator, why spend money on a buy-out if they don't have to? Also, I keep reading that Fiat plans to take 100% ownership of Chrysler in the near future, while also reading other reports that Marchionne wants to ultimately take Chrysler public. Since those two plans would seem to be complete opposites, which report is right? Both somehow?