While America is glued to the flat screen, Fiat gets all the headlines. The other day, Sergio Marchionne had dropped a mention that the HQ of a merged Fiat & Chrysler could move to the U.S. Stateside, this didn’t make much waves. It was buried in shyster-gate. In Italy, all hell broke loose. Fiat emigrating la bella Italia for America? Porca miseria!
Italy’s Welfare Minister Maurizio Sacconi immediately spoke to Marchionne and received a milquetoast statement. “Marchionne has explained the sense of the plans which refer exclusively to future possible company arrangements and which have not been decided,” Sacconi told Reuters.
Fiat Chairman John Elkann had an even better strategy: Overwhelm the opposition. Move to America? Hell no, we’ll move everywhere! He called Turin’s Mayor Sergio Chiamparino, who had said a move of Fiat headquarters to the United States would be “unacceptable”. Elkann told the Mayor that there will be not one headquarters, but four.
There will “one at Turin, one at Detroit for the United States, one in Brazil, and if possible, one in Asia” the mayor said, relating what Elkann told him.
So there, everybody happy. Especially the airlines.
Heck, why not. And if Silvio Berlusconi (a man whom I wouldn’t trust with my wallet or female family members) ticks Marchionne off, it’s an easy move out of Italy to wherever he feels like.
Do the execs merely want easier access to the Olive Garden restaurant?
It is a measure of how bad things must be in Italy that the US, one of the highest corporate tax countries in the world, looks good by comparison.
Or Brazil.
Well, that’s probably the reason why Asia is on the list. From a corporate tax standpoint, there is no better place (aside from eyebrow raising places such as the Caymans) than Hong Kong. Many large Chinese companies are incorporated in Hong Kong. Guess why the GM/SAIC vehicle for the invasion of India has its HQ in HK?
Also, comparing corporate tax rates on a list in Wikipedia can be very deceiving and costly. Without going into the nasty details, operating a company in the U.S. certainly is more tax efficient than in Italy. Unless you know the right people in Italy.
Right on Bertel, Americans simply do not know how much good they’ve got. It’s amazing
Actually, where the headquarters is located doesn’t matter. States and countries tax the business activity in their jurisdiction, not the main accounting department. Only the U.S. taxes the global business of American companies, though there’s a way for companies to keep foreign earnings in their countries of origin. If the deficit cutters go after that loophole, Sergio might be tempted to move Chrysler headquarters to Italy, AFTER he pays off the U.S. and Canadian loans.
say what you want about Chrysler (and their sub-standard products) but they make a great Super Bowl commercial…