The Fiat group is reportedly for sale and the Volkswagen group may be the buyer.
The UK's Daily Telegraph reports that the owners of Fiat are talking to the Volkswagen group (which already owns VW, Audi, Bentley, Skoda, Seat, Bugatti, Ducati, Porsche and Lamborghini) about a possible sale of all Fiat's brands with the exception of Ferrari.
Fiat's chief executive, Sergio Marchionne, reportedly wants to exit the car manufacturing business but wants to retain Ferrari so they can concentrate on and grow the brand.
Fiat currently owns and controls Fiat cars, Alfa Romeo, Lancia, Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Maserati and Ferrari. The Fiat group has been valued at 6.2 billion euros whilst VW has 18 billion euros in cash reserves.
VW wants to buy the Fiat partly because it will have access to Chrysler's US distribution and dealer network. America is the world's second largest car market but VW has struggled to penetrate the country due to a lack of decent network.
If this is true, and the takeover goes ahead just imagine VW built Maseratis, Jeeps and Alfa Romeos. Now that would be interesting.
See the article in the Telegraph here and, for those who speak German, the source the Telegraph quote (Manager Magazin) here.
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| Fiat group brands |
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| Volkswagen group brands |
By Matt Hubbard