Marchionne Tries To Build The New Day Co-Op

Derek Kreindler
by Derek Kreindler

Fans of HBO’s hit show The Wire will remember The New Day Co-Op, a coalition of Baltimore heroin dealers who band together in part to get better deals on their drug supply and remain strong against law enforcement and rival gangsters. Half a world a way, a similar proposal was floated by Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne, but never came to pass.

A report by Bloomberg outlined Marchionne’s vision to take on Volkswagen. It involved PSA, Opel and lots of money.

Marchionne proposed that Peugeot commit to a combination between Fiat, the French carmaker and GM’s German Opel unit in exchange for stock in the new entity, said the people, who asked not to be named as the proposal was private. The CEO also offered to take Opel as part of the deal if he got $5 billion to $7 billion to restructure the unit, two of the people said.

A combination would have given the new entity more heft to compete with Volkswagen as the industry weathers the sovereign- debt crisis. Together, Fiat, Peugeot and Opel account for 25 percent of the region’s auto sales, topping VW’s 24.8 percent share.

The big reason for PSA’s hesitancy was the lack of technology brought to the table by Fiat, saddled with more exposure to countries like Spain and Italy. Apparently, partnering with GM is preferable. Who knew?


Derek Kreindler
Derek Kreindler

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  • Dimwit Dimwit on Oct 30, 2012

    I can see Sergio taking Opel off of everyone's hands ... for a price and it would be a rather healthy one. I can't see him getting into bed with GM. Where's the juice for him to do so? For the most part GM is damaged goods, like a man drowning where you are not too sure of your chances in getting to shore. Adding his abilities to yours doesn't help. PSA, with all the gov't baggage is as bad or even worse since that gov't is French. So you have to big, bad problems and a small attractive issue if you get a big enough bribe. Ain't gonna happen.

  • Volt4obama Volt4obama on Oct 30, 2012

    Can we actually believe what Marichone says? First he fires all the U.S. Jeep workers and sends all those jobs to China. Then he has the nerve to deny it. Good thing we can count on the always accurate and honest Mitt Romney to tell us the truth.

  • GS650G GS650G on Oct 30, 2012

    I wonder if Chrysler will remake their ads to show their cars driving around Beijing with Chinese pop music playing in the background? All those Mopar romantics can join with the SAAB faithful and talk about the good old days when their cars were symbols of where they came from instead of where they are built the cheapest.

    • Sunridge place Sunridge place on Oct 30, 2012

      Can we assume you really don't know much about what it takes to build and sell vehicles in the largest automotive market in the world?

  • Bela Barenyi Bela Barenyi on Oct 31, 2012

    What I find more interesting than this is the news, that Fiat/Sergio more or less will neglect Lancia. The revised plan for future launches of the Fiat Group in EMEA (Europe/Middle-East/Africa) till 2016, shows only one "imported" Lancia (read: rebadged Chrysler) as the only planned launch of a new Lancia in 2014. Here's the revised product plan: http://i.imgur.com/H4cmv.jpg

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