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. …