Just so we're clear on the Fiat rescue of Chrysler that the White House is counting on:
* Fiat lost a ton of money ($785 million U.S.) in 1Q '09.
* Fiat has such a sound grasp of the markets in which it sells that it has, in the past few months, "revised" its 2009 profit forecast from roughly $1 billion (U.S.) to, uh, $100 million (U.S.).
* Case-New Holland, the farm and construction-equipment business that is Fiat's only exposure to the North American market, is a moneyloser that will, Fiat announced Thursday, lay of 1,500 Americans.
* Fiat has emerged this week as a rumoured buyer of Opel, GM's large German carmaker.
* And of Vauxhall, GM's large British carmaker.
* Fiat emphatically restated this week it won't invest a dime in Chrysler, not now, not ever.
Hell, if Washington is giving away a 20 per cent stake in Chrysler, give it to me. If Fiat won't be taking on any of Chrysler's debt and retiree obligations, and Washington is giving away Chrysler's massive minivan plant in Windsor, one of the biggest - if not the biggest - vehicle assembly plant in the world, I'll take it. The Jeep brand, free for the asking if your name is Sergio Marchionne? I've have some business experience - met a budget at a magazine I ran for a few years, operated a successful yard-maintenance business in my teens, bought a French-made Mercier racing bike with my paper-route earnings...(Fiat probably wants to buy Mercier, too.)
Man, somebody's being played for a sucker here.
Not to suggest that Italian industry leaders are all either totally brazen or in La La Land - but when Berlusconi (President and Italy's answer to Ted Rogers I guess) was doing his photo ops following the recent earthquake... His "let them eat cake" expression was "well the survivors look cosy in these tents we have provided them"....
Maybe whoever is running FIAT now (since the Agnellis are no longer in charge) - is on the same planet as Berlusconi!
Posted by: Wascally Wabbit | 04/24/2009 at 09:32 AM
WW, I only wish the Agnellis were the issue. Fact is, Fiat has been too casually managed for at least a generation. The Agnellis distracted themselves with all manner of non-auto pursuits, including La Stampa, banks - another Berkshire except not nearly as well run. Berlusconi's an embarrassment, of course, but not to Italian voters, and that's what matters. I don't dare be presumptuous since I'm sure the view from Milan of our Question Period would make more than a few Italians shake their heads in disbelief.
Posted by: David Olive | 08/08/2009 at 04:20 PM
Thats the correct word u have used above "somebody's being played for a sucker here"
Posted by: Debt Rescue | 08/18/2009 at 04:43 AM