Marchionne Not Yet Ready For GM, Fields Not Interested In Any Merger
FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne says he’s not ready to court General Motors’ shareholders for a merger, while Ford’s Mark Fields prefers no mergers at all.
Though Marchionne was said to be gathering allies in the finance field to help persuade GM’s investors to consider consolidation — having been rebuffed already by CEO Mary Barra — Reuters says he stated the following while on the sidelines at Wednesday’s unveiling of the Alfa Romeo Guilia:
We are very far removed from any of those scenarios today. None of my staff has spoken to them, I haven’t spoken to them, nobody is under instruction to speak to them.
When asked about the possibility of going hostile in his ongoing need for industry consolidation, Marchionne’s reply was to proclaim those who “kept wasting capital” were the ones meting out the hostility.
One such individual would likely be Fields. Per The Detroit Bureau, the Ford CEO told reporters attending the annual Further With Ford conference mergers with any automaker, let alone FCA, were out of the question:
We have no interest or plan other than accelerating the One Ford Plan; delivering product excellence and driving innovation in every part of our business. We are never going to take our eye off of being a great developer of cars, trucks and utility vehicles.
Fields added he would consider ways to improve his company’s overall business model, stating it was important for Ford “to open up that lens” in order to lead the industry towards betterment.
Seattle-based writer, blogger, and photographer for many a publication. Born in Louisville. Raised in Kansas. Where I lay my head is home.
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We have leased a couple of Hondas recently, and started getting mailers from local Honda dealers within a year of starting the leases, wanting to get us out of the lease, and into a new one, so they could have the used car. I have to imagine they DO make more money on gently used, low mileage cars, as opposed to $199 leases on new cars. I'm not convinced I like leasing, but if I can lease an Accord for $230 a month, for 36, with no money down, why would I buy one for $450 a month, for 60 months, and have to pay $1750 sales tax when I buy it? These cheap leases make it very palatable to get a new ride every couple of years. And it probably needed nothing but oil changes, wiper blades and tires during the lease...it never gets into "real" repairs. On the subject of FCA, this should be interesting. Mergers never seem to be mergers, as much as takeovers pretending to be something else. The only FCA product I would even consider would be a Jeep Wrangler, and that's only because there is no direct competitor. If the Indians or Chinese get involved, I truly doubt the average buyer would know or care. If that gives Tata or Geely a way into this market, more power to 'em.
@CincyDavid--That is exactly why the dealers want you to lease, a low mileage Honda that is a couple of years old with low mileage is much more profitable than a new Honda. The lease cars can be sold as certified. We bought a CRV new a couple of years ago and the dealer is sending us ads to trade or CRV on a new Honda. They would prefer we lease. I think it is a matter of time till Fiat-Chrysler is acquired by a competitor. In the near future it would not surprise me if we got down to only one domestically based auto manufacturer.
Sergio should forget merging with another car company - they know too much about the industry. He should be looking at a rich company like Microsoft or Google, run by people who wouldn't know what they're getting into.
Sergio can call it a merger to save face but Fiat-Chrysler is a better candidate for a take over. Fiat-Chrysler needs to do some brand pairing and get rid of Alfa-Romeo, Lancia, and most of their other European brands but keep Fiat. Eventually Fiat-Chrysler should eliminate either the Chrysler or Dodge brand but keep Jeep and Ram. If Fiat-Chrysler is serious about merging they need to do some brand pairing. Fiat-Chrysler needs to focus more resources into Fiat,Jeep,and Ram.