Good reports from Fiat and Hyundai Motor today.
And optimism for Ford tomorrow. Chrysler on the 31st. Black ink all round for a change? A rating agency thinks so but is cautious about the year ahead.
We’ve grouped most of the 2010 sales and profit reports into one handy home page slot, too.
Economy Minister Mlađan Dinkić confirmed today that Fiat had given up on building its cooperative factories at Korman Polje in Kragujevac.
He has announced that a new location for producers of Fiat components will be Grošnica military complex near Kragujevac.
An interesting reminder that Fiat has been in the US before (along with Citroen, Peugeot, et al).
Amazing what pops up in California, it’s little wonder classic car lovers the world over often start there in the search for that ‘restoration’ special, often found still in daily-driver condition.
http://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/dealer/fiat/600/1183445.html
Workers at Fiat’s historic Mirafiori factory have backed a landmark deal that will save the loss-making plant and could transform labor relations in Italy. The Italian automaker Fiat won support from a thin majority of workers at a key factory for a contract that limits strikes and absenteeism in exchange for EUR 1bn investment in Italy, unions said on Saturday.
It is easy to argue that gold is in a bubble.But as I pointed out last month:Deutsche Bank’s head commodities researcher [Michael Lewis] wrote in September:Gold prices would need to surpass USD 1,455/oz to be considered extreme in real terms and hit …
Reconstruction of the Fiat factory in Kragujevac will be completed in the first half of 2011, Fiat automobili Srbija Director Giovanni de Filippis said Sunday.
He added that the first test car for the new Fiat model would be produced by the end of next year.
Sergio Marchionne reckons that Chrysler can help save Fiat from itself and from Italy. It is a gamble, but one he has to take
IN JANUARY Fiat cars will be back on sale in America for the first time in 27 years. The tiny, retro-styled Fiat 500 will appear in the showrooms of 130 dealers across the country. It was launched at the Los Angeles motor show last week, alongside a revamped Chrysler range. Fiat’s return to America is the first visible result of what is intended to be an ever closer union with Chrysler, agreed on last year when the Detroit giant was in bankruptcy. The two companies are betting that the Fiat 500—designed by Frank Stephenson, the man behind BMW’s transatlantic success with the MINI—will also prove as popular with Americans as it has with Europeans.
Returning to a country from which Fiat was driven out by poor quality—Americans used to quip that its name stood for “Fix It Again, Tony”—is a big risk. But the reward is to get back into one of the world’s largest markets and gain the scale that will promote Fiat from a smallish European firm (albeit with a successful business in South America) to the ranks of global carmakers. Its home market in Italy is too small, and its operations there too uncompetitive, to provide the basis for long-term survival. Merging with Chrysler will mean sharing development costs and technology, but will also mean having to turn around an ailing firm with competitiveness problems of its own. In sum, Fiat is playing double or quits. …
Italian unions and politicians have responded angrily to suggestions by the head of carmaker Fiat that the company would be better off without Italy. Sergio Marchionne cited the country’s poor record of labour efficiency and industrial competitiveness.
Alan Greenspan told the Council of Foreign Relations last week:Fiat money has no place to go but gold.Greenspan also said that supply and demand explanations treating gold like other commodities “simply don’t pan out.”Greenspan also spoke of how, …
Fiat Executive Director Sergio Marchionne said that the production of two new models in Serbia would not hurt the Mirafiori Fiat factory in Italy. He said that the Italian factory produces enough expensive models to guarantee that it would have enough work in the future.
Fiat Automobiles Serbia would be producing two new Fiat cars in its Kragujevac-based factory by the end of 2011. The two models would be new versions of the Fiat Idea and the Lancia Musa cars.
Workers at a Fiat factory in Italy’s impoverished south have backed tougher management conditions in return for investment to keep their plant open. In a referendum, just under two thirds of staff voted in favour of the controversial plan.
Zastava Cars factory unions organized a protest today of those workers who did not transfer to the new Fiat company. They cite wage cuts introduced in April as the reason for the protest.
Italy’s biggest conglomerate splits itself in two to promote a carmaking merger
SERGIO MARCHIONNE, the boss of both the Fiat Group and Chrysler, likes to spring surprises. At a marathon presentation in Turin of his five-year plan for Fiat on April 21st he confirmed, as expected, that he is planning to separate Fiat’s other businesses from Fiat Auto as a precursor to creating a combined entity with Chrysler. But he also revealed, to the amazement of many, that Chrysler, in which Fiat received a 20% share last summer as part of a deal with the American government to turn the bankrupt carmaker around, had made an operating profit of $143m in the first quarter. Just as significantly, Mr Marchionne announced that its net debt had fallen from $8 billion in November to $3.8 billion.
Although it may have taken a good deal of financial engineering to produce such numbers, Fiat is easily exceeding its targets for restoring its affiliate to (at least short-term) health. Relatively undemanding milestones will quite soon take Fiat’s stake in Chrysler up to 35%. This, along with the news that John Elkann, a 34-year-old scion of the Agnelli family which holds a controlling interest in Fiat, would replace Luca di Montezemolo as chairman, cheered investors. Mr Elkann is also chairman of Exor, the Agnellis’ listed investment company which holds a 30% stake in Fiat. He has consistently supported Mr Marchionne in his efforts to transform Fiat’s subscale car business. Since last year that has meant backing him in the deal with Chrysler and the failed attempt to carry off a second distressed asset in the form of General Motors’ European unit, Opel/Vauxhall. Unlike Europe’s other great automotive dynasties—the Peugeots and the Quandts of BMW—Mr Elkann (who is a director of the Economist Group) appears more interested in unlocking value than in preserving family control. …
FIAT Cars Serbia (FAS) based in Kragujevac has exported the first contingent of 220 “Punto Classic” vehicles to Egypt and Morocco. The company said in a statement this Tuesday that megotiations on closing similar contracts with companies in North Africa were under way.
Fiat’s Sergio Marchionne is dropping lots of hints that there will be news of a possible Fiat Auto spin-off on April 21 when an investors’ meeting is scheduled in Turin. There will also be a presentation of a five-year strategic plan then. Five years continuing as now? I doubt that, even if the spin-off isn’t exactly imminent. Marchionne has been thinking about a spin-off for a while now and he’ll be wanting to set out a future for a consolidated automotive company merged with Chrysler and looking out for still higher scale economies in alliance with others (PSA speculation will obviously continue).
Fiat India Automobiles Ltd has launched the Linea today at a starting price of Rs 5.98 lakh, ex-showroom, Delhi.
The Linea is a mid-size saloon that will compete with cars like the Honda City and Ford Fiesta on the price front, but will offer near-Corolla levels of interior space.
It is being offered with two engine options, [...]
The shutting down of Fiat’s factories in Italy “has nothing to do with the factory in the Serbian town of Kragujevacâ€. This is according to a statement from spokesman for the Italian car manufacturer Richard Gadezelli, whos spoke for the BBC on Tuesday.
Italian Fiat has paid EUR 98mn to the account of the joint company founded with the Serbian government, Fiat Automobiles Serbia. The company already paid EUR 2mn to the newly formed firm.
Fiat is expected to pay its initial EUR 100mn on Tuesday to the Fiat Automobiles Serbia factory account, Kragujevac Mayor Veroljub Stevanović said. He told journalists that Kragujevac has regulated all issues related to property.
