UPDATE 1-Fiat Chrysler's Marchionne says "unconscionable" to give up on GM deal -paper

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Reuters

It would be "unconscionable" for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) not to pursue a merger with rival General Motors and create a company that can generate $30 billion a year in cash, FCA chief Sergio Marchionne said in a newspaper interview.

GM's board rebuffed a merger proposal from the Italian-American carmaker earlier this year. The rejection has not stopped Marchionne from working on the plan and lobbying GM investors in an effort to drag the GM board to the negotiating table, sources told Reuters in June.

In an interview published on Sunday on the website of Automotive News, Marchionne said he had studied every detail of a deal that would result in "cataclysmic changes in performance" and "it would be unconscionable not to force a partner."

The issue facing the FCA board at present was that "an attack on GM, properly structured, properly financed, ... cannot be refused. You can play hardball to a point," Marchionne said. "It's too big to ignore."

FULL story at link.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/08/31/fiat-chrysler-gm-marchionne-idUSL5N1162YF20150831

[Travis_0004]

1. Lets hope not

I would never buy a chrysler. Perhaps GM could improve chrysler, or perhaps chrysler would hurt GM. Either way I think GM should stay as far away as possible.

[gregcrawford]

2. AHA!

The evil troll of corporatism let its mask slip. Well, corporatism, which is what Mussolini preferred to call his form of government, did get its start in in Italy, so we probably shouldn't be surprised by such statements from Marchionne. Threatening a hostile takeover of an American company...this could get interesting.