Sergio Marchionne wants to erase the shadow of Dieselgate on FCA as soon as possible and today his automotive group will present itself in the offices of the very aggressive California Environment Agency (CARB) to clarify the problems that have brought FCA under accusation by the EPA federal agency.
The purpose of the meeting is to prepare the ground for a negotiation that can quickly lead to an acceptable compromise on the case but the Californian agency, led by Democrats in a democratic state, is tough and won't let go so easily, even if Marchionne has always rejected any approach to the events of Volkswagen arguing that for FCA it is not even remotely a question of fraud but, at most, of administrative and communication irregularities.
The whole story will also be conditioned by the change of strategy that will intervene at the top of the EPA, the National Environment Agency, after the imminent inauguration of Donald Trump. But for Marchionne, closing the case as soon as possible with minimal damage is also the indispensable passport to speed up the search for a partnership, possibly with General Motors, which is being talked about more and more frequently.
