Fiat and Chrysler have been in talks recently about future cooperation.

Chrysler is in a big mess at the moment, with sales down 27% so far this year. This is worse than either Ford or GM. 70% of Chrysler's recent production has been light trucks and SUV's, highest of any of the Big Three. With high fuel prices, those vehicles have not been selling very well. Worse yet, most of their cars are on the big side as well. Long gone are the days of the "K" Car (the SIMCA or Talbot Horizon for those old enough to remember) which was a big seller in the US market for many years.

Chrysler has a fair amount of excess capacity at the moment and is negotiating with Fiat about leasing some of it to them. Yes, really!!! Can you imagine at least some Fiat models being made in the USA in the future? I knew that Alfa was looking for a US partner that could assemble cars as well as distribute them to get back in that market. Could that partner be Chrysler? As Fiat can't make 500's fast enough in Europe, could Chrysler start building 500's in the US for both the US and Europe? And the 500 is also the new Ford Ka, which has never been sold in the USA. Interesting possibilities start to appear with this.

I'll keep everyone informed if I hear anything more.

BTW, Ford will be selling the new Fiesta, Tourneo/Transit Connect, C-Max and European Focus in the US by 2010. The Fiesta hasn't been sold there since the original version. The US Focus is the previous European generation with new sheet metal. The others have never been in the USA before. Wonder if they will have diesels available over there.

was the Ka really never sold in the USA? i can't imagine it over there but seem to recall it being in some museum of art over there?

There may be a Ka in an art museum in the USA, but for static display it didn't have to meet US safety and emissions norms. The car was never sold there.

The 500 could go well in the U.S., after all, the Smart For2 is sold there. There are some quite strong memories of FIATs over there mainly over the X1/9 and Spider, but, if you go back far enough, the 124Special T also met with some success. Perhaps in addition to the 500, the Barchetta and Bravo would also do well.

Thanks, Sledge. That's the basis of what I read on a US news site last night.

raton_laveur said:

I knew that Alfa was looking for a US partner that could assemble cars as well as distribute them to get back in that market. Could that partner be Chrysler?

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it has been suggested numerous times in the last year. how much agreement has really been made is anyone's guess.

The Beard said:

The 500 could go well in the U.S.

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the mini sells very well over there

"Chrysler is in negotiations with United Auto Workers to put factory workers on four 10-hour work days instead of five 8-hour work days in a bid to cut costs."

i would love to work four 10-hour shifts per week.

The thought of any european manufacturer being tied up with Chrysler is unthinkable. Look what happened to Merc build quality after their fling with Chrysler. Fiat are working to improve their quality, not destroy it.

french bean said:

The thought of any european manufacturer being tied up with Chrysler is unthinkable. Look what happened to Merc build quality after their fling with Chrysler. Fiat are working to improve their quality, not destroy it.

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And what they did with SIMCA, Sunbeam, Hillman and the other European manufacturers they got their hands on in the 70's. A horrible shame that was.:yuck:

On the other hand, it's not the same Chrysler nowadays. I would hope they understand that doing poor quality contract manufacturing is not in anyone's interest. Unfortuneately, Chrysler is behind Ford and GM on quality issues. Several of its recent models have been panned by the automotive press in the USA and in France and perhaps other countries as well.

I do not believe that Mercedes quality problems had anything to do with Chrysler. I think the roots of that situation pre-date the Daimler-Chrysler buyout. D-C didn't work because D didn't want to impose its culture on (or learn anything from) C, which would have been an excellent idea. Also, D was afraid that sharing platforms and major components would cheapen the Mercedes brand, so there was almost none of the cost savings that you normally see in a situation like this. Exceptions were using D diesel engines in certain C cars sold in Europe and the replacement of the old Dodge full size van in the USA with the Mercedes Sprinter with Dodge badges. For the rest, D decided it coud do bettter without its partner and sold C.

jug said:

"Chrysler is in negotiations with United Auto Workers to put factory workers on four 10-hour work days instead of five 8-hour work days in a bid to cut costs."

i would love to work four 10-hour shifts per week.

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As I live 50 miles from where I work, I'd go for that in a big way if it were ever offered. A 20% cut in my commuting costs would be well worth it.