Fiat: Small cars, big plans

After its Chrysler deal, Fiat bids for GM’s European brands—and the No. 2 global automaker rank

Italian automaker Fiat just finalized its partnership with Chrysler, said Damon Lavrinc in Autoblog, but apparently “Chrysler is only the beginning.” Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne is also in serious talks to acquire General Motors’ European brands—Opel, Vauxhall, and Saab—to create an auto giant worth about $106 billion that would compete with Volkswagen to be the world’s No. 2 car company, after Toyota.

Fiat’s got a few hurdles before consummating Marchionne’s Opel “marriage made in heaven,” said Simon Sturdee in The Sydney Morning Herald, among them a rival offer from Canada’s Magna and skepticism from German government and union officials. But if his “audacious” plan works, Fiat will be one of the big “winners of the global recession.”

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