Fiat and Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne said he had no immediate plans to merge the two car-makers as shares in a new stripped-down Fiat began trading on the stock exchange on Monday.
“I have no plans to merge Fiat and Chrysler today,” Marchionne told journalists at a ceremony organised at the Milan stock exchange for the first listing of spin-off Fiat Industrial, which contains the conglomerate’s non-automotive elements.
“I think we have done a relatively decent job in the last 18 months” in terms of “industrial integration”, he said, adding “a legal merger is not going to change our lives”.
Fiat owns 20% of Chrysler, which it took operational control of in June 2009 after the US car-maker nearly went bankrupt.
But Marchionne said it was “possible” Fiat may boost the holding to 51% “if Chrysler decides to go to the market in 2011”.
In September 2010 Fiat shareholders approved the Italian car giant’s plan to separate its car and non-car making activities as part of a drive to increase its global clout.
In the spin-off, which took effect on January 1, Fiat’s truck-maker, Iveco, and CNH agricultural and construction equipment manufacturer became part of the new Fiat Industrial.
Fiat’s car-making operations include the Fiat, Lancia, Alfa Romeo and Maserati brands.
When the spin-off was first announced in April, Marchionne said he hoped it would resolve one of the “strategic issues” that over the past years “has been a thorn in Fiat’s side”.
The car and non-car activities have different strategies, markets and capital needs.
The Italian-Canadian Marchionne, who is credited with rescuing Fiat from the brink of collapse, became Chrysler’s chief executive in the deal under which Fiat contributed its small-car and green technology and the US car-maker opened the door to its sprawling distribution network. — AFP