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When you’re a multibillion-dollar company that’s been under heavy scrutiny from federal regulators and you’ve been turned down by several potential suitors in the last year, you don’t simply give up on a possible merger. Or at least that seems to be the case for Fiat Chrysler when it comes to the automaker’s unrequited love for General Motors.
Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne once again expressed his desire to see the two car manufacturing heavyweights join forces in an interview published over the weekend on Automotive News.
Although Fiat Chrysler [FCA] was shot down by rival GM previously, Marchionne says he’s not backing away from a potentially lucrative deal, not without a fight, anyway.
After crunching the numbers, he tells Automotive News, that his board feels there really is no choice in the matter; they must put pressure on GM to begin talks.
“Look, the combined entity can make $30 billion a year in cash. Thirty. Just think about that [expletive] number,” he says.
Of course, Marchionne doesn’t think things have to be hostile just yet. Instead, he plans to ease GM into the talks, starting with a little nudge and working into a full on embrace. Wait, what?
“Not hostile,” he says. “There are varying degrees of hugs. I can hug you nicely, I can hug you tightly, I can hug you like a bear, I can really hug you. Everything starts with physical contact. Then it can degrade, but it starts with physical contact.”
Who knew that merger deals between major automakers could be so… physical?
Marchionne then goes on to say that he simply wants to present his case to GM CEO Mary Barra.
“I’m not trying to date Mary, for the record, but I tried to get to see her,” he says.
Despite the CEO’s clear love for a possible deal, insiders at GM tell Automotive News that the company feels a merger would be a bad idea.
“Why,” a GM executive asked Automotive News, “should [GM] bail out FCA?”
While Marchionne opines that the presumably billion-dollar deal would create a wealth of profit for a combined company, others express concern that it would mean the loss of thousands of jobs, plant closures, and the end of several vehicle models.
Marchionne denies these assertions, saying that the “doom and gloom of reductions, and headcounts, plant shutdowns” is nonsense.
Still, a spokesperson for GM tells Automotive News that the company and its shareholders believe they are better off on their own.
Marchionne puts the squeeze on GM; GM’s response: ‘Why bail out FCA?’ [Automotive News]
by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist
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