35% of Chrysler sold to FIAT

Scooby074 · Jan 20, 2009

It looks like 35% of Chrysler has been sold to FIAT. I think this is a good thing for Chrysler. They were pretty much on their death bed. This will keep them alive plus give them access to Fiats products. There is a real want for compact vehicles in NA now. If FIAT shifts production to Chrysler's idled or potentially closing plants then it will definitely be a good thing.

I agree that FIAT has to overcome their past reputation, but they are making pretty good products right now ( think about Honda's and Toyota's reputation when they first came). Check out the Fiat 500 Arbath. Its a pretty amazing compact. Great reviews in Europe.

What do you guys think? I would rather a made in North America solution, but that wasnt in the cards. I'm waiting for the Ferrari powered viper

SnowRidge · Jan 20, 2009

Arrgh! Now I can't get the pictures of a rusted out X1/9 with a rams head hood ornament out of my head.

Heywood Jannockitov · Jan 20, 2009

Fix It Again Tony

art · Jan 20, 2009

All that I know is with the amount of pay differential of Detriot and the rest of the industry I listen to customers that were die hard american buyers that say they will buy Japanese built products!

Simple fact is they are stating from reading between the lines is how can they get a good bang for there buck when detroits employees are making so much. They feel the cars are stripped of quality to meet the helps wage demands and trying to sell at competitive prices.

Fiat has it's own problems of quality that have chased them for years in all facets of their operations. Some of the companies they have purchased has helped them with the quality of build but bad habits seem to keep trying to come back from time to time.

joes_427_vette · Jan 20, 2009

Dalimer Benz sucked the black ink out of Chrysler and left them on the side of the road. Now they have US Gov't. bucks and look attractive. Enter Fiat ............... I hope they don't employ the same tactics and were back to square one in five or less years. Positive thinking is required !

Scooby074 · Jan 20, 2009

I hope the powers that be put protections in place to prevent any money that Chrysler has getting sucked out and sent overseas, like Daimler did.

SnowRidge · Jan 20, 2009

Scooby074 said:
I hope the powers that be put protections in place to prevent any money that Chrysler has getting sucked out and sent overseas, like Daimler did.

Chrysler seems to have been a net money loser for Daimler.

Scooby074 · Jan 20, 2009

SnowRidge said:
Chrysler seems to have been a net money loser for Daimler.

Maybe so. I think some of that loss was due to the fire sale price Cebreus paid for Chrysler as they literally ran away from Chrysler when they sold it. But theres no doubt about Daimler raiding Chrysler for several billion when they purchased Chrysler. At the time of the purchase, Daimler was needing that money pretty bad. Chrysler was on track to develop some good products when they were sold. Daimler came in and found "cost savings" mostly at the cost of interior quality. I dont think anyone can say Daimler was good for Chrysler.

SnowRidge · Jan 20, 2009

Scooby074 said:
Maybe so. I think some of that loss was due to the fire sale price Cebreus paid for Chrysler as they literally ran away from Chrysler when they sold it. But theres no doubt about Daimler raiding Chrysler for several billion when they purchased Chrysler. At the time of the purchase, Daimler was needing that money pretty bad. Chrysler was on track to develop some good products when they were sold. Daimler came in and found "cost savings" mostly at the cost of interior quality. I dont think anyone can say Daimler was good for Chrysler.

Oh no, the "merger" was a horror. I'm just pointing out that Mercedes lost their collective rear end on the deal. I can't say I'm sorry about that. I though the deal stunk from the start. Because of them, I have a truck with the wrong gearing in the rear end (or tranny, take your pick) and a whoppingly expensive to replace clutch. So much for German engineering.

Renze · Jan 20, 2009

I'm surprised, because it wasnt long ago that FIAT group (Iveco, Case New Holland, etcetera) was in very bad weather themself... CNH was the only division that kept the automobile division afloat...

JDGREEN4ME · Jan 20, 2009

SnowRidge said:
Arrgh! Now I can't get the pictures of a rusted out X1/9 with a rams head hood ornament out of my head.

Back in '78 I owned an X1/9...ran like a charm. I think the other one I bought was a 124 or a 128 set up like a rally car didn't run right until I found a mechanic that could work on it! My father HATED them both...

RalphVa · Jan 20, 2009

Hopefully, Fiat may use this as a stepping stone to get Alfas and Fiats back into the US. The little Fiat 500 is cool! I'm also interested in maybe replacing my VW Cabrio with an Alfa 2 seater. Loved my 1969 Alfa Duetto with a 1300 "junior" engine in it.

Ralph

SnowRidge · Jan 20, 2009

RalphVa said:
Hopefully, Fiat may use this as a stepping stone to get Alfas and Fiats back into the US. The little Fiat 500 is cool! I'm also interested in maybe replacing my VW Cabrio with an Alfa 2 seater. Loved my 1969 Alfa Duetto with a 1300 "junior" engine in it.

Ralph

I have owned three Alfa Spiders. I would love to find a 69 1750 in good shape at a reasonable price. I know, I know. Good luck on that.

mjarrels · Jan 20, 2009

I owned a 1977 MGB... thats how I learned to work on stuff, alway had a full toolbox in the boot (trunk)!

mark

Diamondpilot · Jan 20, 2009

We had a 79 Alpha Spider and it was cool. I was too young to remember the maintenance history. My dad traded it for a 81 Camaro that we keep up till the late 80's. Not much of a car but would pass everything but a gas station. We then got a Triumph Spitfire 1500 I think? Anyway it was a lot like the Alpha.

Chris

tomd999 · Jan 20, 2009

Hiya,

Fiat.....grrrrrrr. Someone years ago gave my girlfriend one, I had to flat tow it to my parents land, it sat in the back lot for her to work on it, (she was a Sgt in the Army Reserve and had this idea that she knew how to repair machines because she could field strip her service rifle...

) so, guess who had to do the repairs on it, yep, Tom.

It became this bright orange blight on the land, I finally got sick of looking at her and it so I told her to take a hike and I sold it to my buddy's brother for 20 bucks, a bottle of Jack and a promise that he would never drive it to my or my parents house. I never saw it running, I doubt it ever did.

Let's hope Fiat doesn't deep 6 the MOPAR "Direct Connection" parts line, I need to keep feeding my extra cash to the "black hole" in the garage, AKA my '70 340 Swinger.

Fiat= Fix it again Tom.

My 2 cents,

Tom, former Fiat fixer....

John Deere 3520 · Jan 21, 2009

All I got to say i WOW hard to belive they picked Fiat out of the group, but thats the only that might of wanted to buy Dodge, I dont see them last to much longer there not really on track like ford and GM is to making Fuel sipping cars there more interested in the new challenger with all the new package deals for it, to me it seems like there spending all there money on those HEMIs just about every car/truck you get from them you can get a hemi,why would a family person thats going out to buy a sedan that gets high 28mpgs or mid 30mpgs want a hemi? The hemi is going to be the death of them. Benz did give Dodge something they needed though clean diesel tech on the 6.7 that motors good for 2010 EPA happy regulations and they did that with no urea filter. Maybe Fiat can do something for them, but i dont think they will.

Scooby074 · Jan 21, 2009

John Deere 3520 said:
, I dont see them last to much longer there not really on track like ford and GM is to making Fuel sipping cars there more interested in the new challenger with all the new package deals for it,

This is the reason that I think Fiat is a good fit. FIAT's entire line consists of fuel efficient cars. It will give Chrys a quick entry into that market. From what i've been reading, most of the Fiats will meet North American standards relatively easily. Some estimates say they could have the 500 on the streets in NA by 2010.

Fiat also has a van thats very similar to the Sprinter. Sprinter has been a real success for Chrysler, but I wonder what will happen when Daimler is completely separated from Chrysler? If they lose the rights to the sprinter than Fiat has a vehicle to fill the void. They also have a van that will be a direct competitor to the Ford Transit Connect that's being launched in NA very soon.

John Deere 3520 · Jan 21, 2009

I hope Fiat helps them out I would hate to see them go under. It would be a big to loose to alot of people workers mostly. Those dam CEOs in all the big three dont seem to care becuase they have all the money they need.

art · Jan 21, 2009

John Deere 3520 said:
I hope Fiat helps them out I would hate to see them go under. It would be a big to loose to alot of people workers mostly. Those dam CEOs in all the big three dont seem to care becuase they have all the money they need.

The whole detroit thing is out of hand with wages isn't it? Most CEO's do work a lot longer then the hourly wage earners in a company. I don't think anyone should get what many of these people are earning at the expense of the company. You can only milk out a company for so long before it will fail!

35% of Chrysler sold to FIAT

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