Sergio Marchionne Hasn't Forgotten About GM, You Guys

Aaron Cole
by Aaron Cole

Speaking at the Formula One Italian Grand Prix this weekend, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne told Reuters that a merger with General Motors was at the top of his list.

“That discussion remains a high priority for FCA,” Marchionne told Reuters. “We consider it to be the best possible strategic alternative for us and for them. General Motors does remain the ideal partner for us and we represent a not easily replaceable alternative for them.”

(Emphasis mine. But what are the other “strategic alternatives?”)

Marchionne stopped short of saying that he’d pursue a hostile takeover bid for GM, although he already said there were various forms of “hugs” that he’d have for the automaker to convince them.

“There are varying degrees of hugs. I can hug you nicely, I can hug you tightly, I can hug you like a bear, I can really hug you. Everything starts with physical contact. Then it can degrade, but it starts with physical contact,” he told Automotive News last month.

GM has said it has no interest in a “bail out” of FCA.

Marchionne was spotted in the garage at Ferrari during the race. Next month, Ferrari will spin off from FCA to help raise cash for the debt-saddled automaker. Marchionne said he believes that Ferrari could be worth $11 billion.


Aaron Cole
Aaron Cole

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  • Dirtyblueshirt Dirtyblueshirt on Sep 07, 2015

    Am I the only one who noticed that they're using the old Dodge logo still?

  • Lynn Ellsworth Lynn Ellsworth on Sep 08, 2015

    What is the story with Jeep? No one has mentioned that Jeep kills every company that takes it on. Jeep is selling well now but does making it require non-compatible parts and special assembly lines so even if it sells well there is extra expense in putting up with it? Would FCA be better off if they gave Jeep away? Maybe we could use it as a weapon to destroy the Chinese auto industry.

    • See 7 previous
    • JustPassinThru JustPassinThru on Sep 09, 2015

      @Steve65 Not really. There was no such thing as a "bailout" in the 1950s when Henry Kaiser's company bought Willys-Overland. Nor was there any talk of hitting the public treasury when AMC was persuaded/pushed into buying Kaiser-Jeep. The Renault purchase of AMC-Jeep got no government support - in fact it lost favor and Renault was told to sell government-contractor AMGeneral. The Chrysler purchase happened a few years after Lido made a big show of paying off the loan guarantees. No government money there, either. ONLY FCA got governmnet HELP in buying up American industries. Thank Sergio, who plays the crony game well.

  • DweezilSFV DweezilSFV on Sep 08, 2015

    New company name: F-GM. I kind of like that.

  • And003 And003 on Sep 15, 2015

    With all due respect to Marchionne and what he's done with Chrysler, it's just as well that GM refused his idea. I'm not a fan of the idea of an FCA merger with GM because of a little thing called vehicle overlap. FCA US LLC has vehicles that compete with similar vehicles at GM, and I fear that if a merger were to take place, production of vehicles like the Challenger, RAM and Viper would cease, and I'm not looking forward to that.

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