Fiat Increase Stake In Chrysler Are More Takeovers Planned?

Monday, 26. April 2010

We expect to see some changes in ownership of car manufacturers as we come out of recession, the latest of which is the increased ownership of Chrysler by Fiat. The deal will include Jeep and Dodge. Fiat took a 20% stake in ailing Chrysler last summer and have announced an increase in their stake to 35% if targets are met over the next 2 years. Chrysler registrations were down by 42.8% last year over 2008. Future Chrysler models will be based on Fiat models including an electric version of the Fiat 500. As a plus to Fiat they will gain the technology of an established 4WD in the Jeep range. They only have a small 4WD available at the moment called a Sedici Crossover following the trend for ‘crossovers’ now sold by Citroen, Peugeot etc. Even Mini is reported to be working on one. By Graham Hill