Volkswagen will go back to looking for Fiat Chrysler “to have a chat” about a possible partnership. This was stated by the CEO of FCA, Sergio Marchionne, on the sidelines of a press conference at the Geneva Motor Show.
“Volkswagen – underlined Marchionne – will suffer the greatest impact of the PSA-Opel merger and it definitely has other problems. But I'm sure that at the right moment she will come back to knock on our door to have a chat ”. For Marchionne, however, "The most suitable partner of FCA remains General Motors".
This morning Marchionne also spoke of the FCA plant in Pomigliano d'Arco, announcing that the Panda will no longer be produced in the Campania factory: "The future Panda, which will arrive in 2019-2020, we won't do it there, we won't do it in Italy. With all due respect, Pomigliano knows how to do better”.
“The confirmation of a top-of-the-line car from the Alfa Romeo range in Pomigliano is good news – he commented Marco Bentivogli, secretary of Fim Cisl -. FCA has always confirmed the goal of full employment of the Italian plants by 2018 and this news goes in this direction. The Pomigliano plant is not just any plant, it is where the relaunch of FCA started, where the commitment of thousands of girls and boys laid the foundations for this industrial and trade union success. Pomigliano has achieved all its objectives and even if politics often forgets it, this is due to the union and the workers who have rolled up their sleeves with everyone against them. Focusing on premium-range cars with higher margins is a positive fact that already emerged a year ago, we hope that after the press conferences, the comparison of prospects will rely on industrial relations".
“The automotive sector, on a global level – continued Bentivogli -, is undergoing an acceleration of the process of consolidation of the various major European and global players and also of technological innovations on the propulsion of vehicles and their driving, two themes which must arouse more serious attention from politics and the banking system. Issues in which our protectionists unleash all their provincialism and incompetence. One more reason to bring these issues back as soon as possible to industrial relations capable of tackling challenges of this magnitude. FCA has played in advance, now it is important to remain in the maelstrom of the great strategies of international alliances and mergers to complete the phase of liberation from the risk of marginality that the Fiat Group has run for too many years".
