Fiat plans European car supergroup . . .

[f1reverb]

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a4a4767a-380d-11de-9211-00144feabdc0.html?nclick_check=1

Fiat plans European car supergroup

By John Reed and Paul Betts in Monte Carlo

Published: May 3 2009 19:45 | Last updated: May 3 2009 19:45

Sergio Marchionne, Fiat chief executive, is on Monday due to outline plans to transform the global automotive landscape by spinning off Fiat’s core cars division, joining it with Chrysler and General Motors Europe, and creating a new publicly traded European car company.

Mr Marchionne wants Italy’s largest industrial group to separate Fiat Auto from its other divisions, join them with Opel / Vauxhall, Saab, and GM’s other European operations, and Fiat’s stake in Chrysler to create a company with about €80bn ($106bn) of revenues and sales of 6m-7m vehicles a year – second to Toyota, more than Renault / Nissan or Ford Motor, or GM itself, and roughly as many as Volkswagen . . .