Fiat Project Assumes Mythical Proportions, Name
Published: May 7th, 2009
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The Wall Street Journal has got its mitts on a document detailing Fiat’s plans for world automotive domination and can reveal that the name for Sergio Marchionne’s plan is “Project Phoenix.” The plan reportedly calls for Fiat to take over Opel, Vauxhall, Saab and GM’s South African operations in addition to the Chrysler brands. Fiat would spin off this new auto empire into a new entity which would also include the Fiat, Alfa Romeo and Lancia brands, but not Ferrari and Maserati. Fiat would also close GM Europe’s plant in Luton, UK, and cease operations in Graz, Austria. The payoff? Annual savings of around €1.4 billion from 2015 onwards, according to Fiat’s estimates. The downside? A high chance of epic failure.
More by Edward Niedermeyer
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So Fiat wants to become the new "Global Motors" - didn't work to well for the old GM
"The downside? A high chance of epic failure." How 'bout we give 'em a friggin' chance before mentioning the "F" word?
Now Magna comes up with their "Project Beam" GM Europe, not so fast FIAT.... "FRANKFURT, May 8 (Reuters) - Canadian-Austrian Magna International (MGa.TO) aims to create a European-Russian automaker making up to 5 million cars a year, German daily Rheinische Post said, citing company sources. Under its proposal, dubbed project "Beam", the company would take over General Motors' (GM.N) German carmaker Opel jointly with Russian car company GAZ and Sberbank (SBER03.MM) to sell 1 million cars a year to the Russian market, the paper reported on Friday." http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idCAL8102168520090508?rpc=44
If Mr. MArchionne pulls this off, he'll be considered one of the best executives of all time. If he doesn't, the world will be all the poorer. I mean, damn if you damned if you don't. I don't know who thinks it's a good idea to split all the world w/ just 3 choices: stark, dark German, boring/reliable (?) assorted Asian, or non-descript American as a third option. Go Fiat go! Keep the quirkiness alive please.