Fiat Posts 2nd Consecutive Quarterly Loss

Yesterday, I talked about the problems and challenges at Toyota, mainly because Toyota is so important to the economy of South-Western Ontario. Today, the discouraging news is about Fiat. Living in the Windsor-Essex region means being up-to-date on all things Fiat, since the Italian automaker was handed 20% of the new Chrysler, including senior management responsibilities and pay.

Our local paper, the Windsor Star, and business reporter Grace Macaluso have done an embarrasing job covering this important story. Not once, in my opinion, has a serious story been written about the Fiat balance sheet. Over the past months, I have written a number of posts about Fiat/Chrysler; listed below are some, but not all. Have a read.

• Fiat - When will the Windsor Star Tell us More??
• U.S. Government and UAW to Control G.M. and Chrysler
• New Life for Chrysler??
• Another Puff Piece on Fiat
• Italian Industry Minister Plays Hardball with Fiat!
• Marchionne the Magician!!!

This Fiat-Chrysler merger was driven by U.S. President Barack Obama and supported by the Canadian and Ontario governments and paid for by the grateful taxpayers. I agree that we had no choice but to support the bailout. However, it would have been nice to see some real in-depth work from the Windsor Star and super snooper Grace Macaulso. Windsor-Essex needs all the information we can get on this deal.

This week, we learn from Bloomberg news that Fiat lost 410 million Euros in the first quarter and 168 million Euros in the second quarter. In plain English, this means that Fiat lost approximately $910 million dollars CDN, so far this year.

Maybe the Windsor Star management can assign someone, who can get busy, and tell Windsor-Essex residents what this means going forward.