Marchionne to Apple: Pick Me! Pick Me!

by Mark Stevenson

Published: March 2nd, 2016

It seems Sergio Marchionne may be switching teams when it comes to shacking up with another company to build cars of the future, reports Bloomberg.

At the Geneva International Motor Show, the self-confessed Apple geek said that Fiat Chrysler Automobiles would be well-suited to contract build a car designed in California.

“I would assume that we have the credibility to be one of the players they have looked at,” Marchionne said in Geneva. “There are parts of us that would be interesting for them.”

It’s no secret that FCA is saddled with debt. Its future is highly dependent on making a deal with someone … anyone … no matter how much fat the Sweatered One can trim. The aroma of a cash-rich Apple probably has Marchionne’s nostrils aflutter. And in order to make a deal happen with Apple, Marchionne said he’d be willing to operate under any terms the technology giant sets forth.

“Apple has a language, and you have to be able to speak that language,” said Marchionne. “Usually the industry comes into that dialogue with a high degree of arrogance as we know how to make cars.”

In addition to debt, FCA is behind many competitors when it comes to advanced technology, especially electrification and semi-autonomous tech. It only has two brands — Jeep and Ram — that have bright futures. And its exposure to South America is becoming more and more of a pressing problem. Negotiating a deal with Apple could help alleviate many of FCA’s pressures.

On the other side of Silicon Valley, Google parent Alphabet is much more interested in licensing its autonomous technology to other automakers. And even if it did shack up with an OEM for a contract build, we’re guessing the autonomous Alphagetti would taste more like kimchi than a thin-crust pie.

[Image Source: FCA]

#Apple #AppleCar #AutonomousCar #ContractBuild #Fca #FiatChryslerAutomobiles #SergioMarchionne

Mark Stevenson

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2 of 23 comments

Flipper35 on Mar 03, 2016

They don't screw up all the tech. The U-Connect is pretty decent compared to some of the others I have used.

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Voyager on Mar 03, 2016

The Mazda MX5 - Fiat 124 combination should have opened Marchionne's eyes. Mazda has grown to become the car maker with Italian flair among its Asian colleagues. Instead of having Alfa drivers wait that long for a successor to the 159 and the Giulietta, FCA already could have been selling Alfas on Mazda underpinnings.

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