Fiat CEO: Deadline, What Deadline?

by Robert Farago

Published: June 9th, 2009

Bloomberg asked Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne whether Fiat would pull out of the Chrysler deal (money for nothing and your Fiats for free) if it’s not completed by the automaker’s June 15 deadline: “We would never walk away,” Marchionne said. “Never.”

Robert Farago

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Sajeev Mehta on Jun 09, 2009
superbadd75 : “We would never walk away. Never. Unless this deal costs us something. Then we’ll run.” +1 for that.

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Pch101 on Jun 09, 2009
Negotiating wise that was one really dumb move. +1 to that. It would make sense for him to be evasive or non-committal If I was him, I would create a good cop-bad cop situation, in which he positions himself as the good (hanging in there) against the bad (a nervous board of directors that wants to pull out.) Then he can look like the guy who saved the deal, while dealing with the assault from the US court system and his own group of wise men. Makes for good drama, and he wins either way.

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Jkross22 on Jun 09, 2009

Seems to be agreement Sergio said the wrong thing... more quality leadership for Chrysler.

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VLAD on Jun 09, 2009

Fiat may think they are getting a slice of Chrysler for free, but once they take a ownership position with the UAW in place they own part of the loss. They hope to grab taxpayer money in excess of the future losses.

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