Fiat In Dire Straits If It Can't Aquire Chrysler

Nearly four years after Sergio Marchionne led a taxpayer-funded rescue of Chrysler, he is struggling to fix Fiat through a merger that has put him at odds with tens of thousands of retired Chrysler workers.

The roles between rescuer and troubled partner have been reversed for some time. This morning, Chrysler is expected to report a substantial profit for the first quarter, while Fiat, excluding its majority stake in Chrysler, is expected to lose money for the seventh straight quarter.

New car sales in Europe fell 10% in the first quarter. It was even worse in Italy (down 13%), where more than half of Fiat’s European sales occur.

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CarCrazedinCali - 4/29/2013 12:39:12 PM

+1 Boost

hmmm, the Fiat's I have seen and driven in the US are garbage, that may just be one reason why they are tanking

nguyenvuminh - 4/29/2013 2:57:15 PM

+1 Boost

Putting aside China's market growth (and India to a lesser degree) because it's a protected mkt with a different technology standard in the growth segment of entry cars, I think we have forgotten that there's a glut of car mfg capacity in the world for "Western standard" cars (lulled from recent housing and stock mkts uptick in recent 9 mths). Inferior car mfrs (non-competitive products, inefficient mfg, inadequate technology R&D, restrictive labour terms, etc.) like Daewoo, Saanyong, Isuzu, Fiat, Peugeot, etc. were destined to fail over time. I would say Chrysler was borderline (their savings grace is that they're in the US market and they sell SUVs). I questioned, and still is, the Fiat-Chrysler merge/marriage viability and I may be proven to be wrong but I still don't see any potential with these 2 inferior car mfrs. Fiat cars are not competitive to the other cars they compete with (Toyota, Ford, VW, Honda) and Chrysler claim-to-fame SUVs are encountering new competitors everyday (Ford and GM, now crowding by VW, Toyota, etc.). Sorry but I still don't see it.