Anyone, who reads my blog, will know how amazed I have been with the Italian car maker Fiat. No, not so much for their ability to manage a world class car operation, but for their ability to pick up a controlling stake in Chrysler for free.
On Monday June 8th, the U.S. Supreme Court decided to temporarily halt the sale of Chrysler to Fiat, after legal challenges from three Indiana pension and construction funds. Please believe me; I want this deal to get approved. The alternative is liquidation, which means there is no alternative.
What bothers me about the Fiat-Chrysler deal, is the spin. The U.S. and Canadian governments are both guilty, in my view, of not stating clearly that Fiat needs Chrysler, just as much as Chrysler needs a new and prominent partner. The spin from the Fiat folks has been just as bad. All this talk about small car technology transfer, is a little overblown.
Fiat says it will bring it's popular Fiat 500 (Cinquecento in Italian) to North America, and somehow this will help Chrysler. Have you ever seen the Cinquecento? You might be able to drive it on a golf course! And oh, where will these cars be made?
Fiat's Alfa Romeo brand, is highly regarded, and more suited to the North American Market. Again where will these cars be built? What I want to know is how Fiat plans to sell North American built Chrysler products here at home and abroad. After all, we the grateful taxpayers, have invested Billions in this effort.
One would think, our local Windsor Star newspaper, with all it's reporters and resources, could do a feature story, and get the answers to these important questions. Yes, one would think.
Anyway, Fiat has said in the past, if the deal is not done by June 15th they would walk. Surprise, surprise their tune has changed. Fiat is now willing to wait. Again, this is a good thing. But, let's be honest. Everyone just admit it. Fiat needs Chrysler.
Late breaking news from MSNBC:
"Late Tuesday, the Supreme Court cleared the way for the sale of the bulk of Chrysler LLC's assets to the Fiat Group SpA, rejecting an appeal by a trio of Indiana pension and construction funds, consumer groups and others to block the transaction."
Good luck to all.
