Fiat and France, the story of a marriage that (for now) has nothing to do. The FCA-Renault merger it is currently skipped, but it wasn't the first time that Lingotto had flirted with his cousins from beyond the Alps: partly because the history of Turin has always been linked to the transalpine one, partly because – as the French newspaper Les Echos recalls, reconstructing the history of failed alliances in the past – John Elkann himself, today president of FCA (over who of Exor and Ferrari) is the son of the Franco-Italian Alain and went to high school in Paris, as well as an internship in a car dealership in Lille. The French press, as well as evidently the government (but not Renault, which indeed speaks of a "missed opportunity" in a statement), do not trust Elkann much, defined in an editorial as "the disturbing prince": "Were it Jean-Dominique Senard (CEO of Renault, ed) – writes Les Echos with an excess of mistrust and proposing a cliché bordering on discrimination – we would not trust the angel's face of the young Elkann. That's how the Italians are, handsome boys and great players."
It's Fiat has been trying to partner with the French car industry for almost a century. The first was precisely the lawyer Gianni Agnelli, who in the 30s launched the Simca (Société Industrielle de Mécanique et de Carrosserie Automobile) brand across the Alps, which remained commercially active only until 1980: even then the cousins showed signs of intolerance, so much so that the three big sisters, Renault-Peugeot-Citroen, teamed up to put a spanner in the works of the Avvocato's creature. Which, after the war, forcefully returned to the office aiming straight at Renault, but the statute of the French house at the time provided for 100% state control, so obviously the barricades were raised and nothing was done about it. “However, the two groups began to get to know each other,” writes Les Echos. But in 1968 it was with Citroen that Fiat formed a great alliance which should have resulted in the complete takeover: the Michelin group, owner of Citroen at the time, was in favour, but coincidentally it was once again the government (led by Pompidou) who get across.
From there to 1974 two more crossings arrive: the Italian government blocks the sale of Alfa Romeo to Renault itself, and shortly after Citroen ends up in the hands of the fellow villager Peugeot, which thus also takes over the Italian brand Maserati, which under the aegis of Citroen has experienced perhaps the darkest period of its history before returning to the parent company, Fiat Chrysler, where it is today. Fiat also has a common past with Peugeot: an agreement for the production of small cars has been in force between the two companies for some time, which is coming to an end, and in recent years there have often been rumors about a possible alliance. At the beginning of the 90s, Les Echos still recalls, however, it was the Fiat-Renault merger that came back into the news: but the French company had not yet been privatized, and therefore the minister of the time again replied spades, waving his danger of negative effects on employment.
After all, France who also has many interests in Italy, is not new to this and hardly accepts that the normal dynamics of the free market can go against it: see the Fincantieri case, which after months of resistance is unblocking, or see the creation of national champions strictly controlled by Paris also in other fields (energy and TLC). The car saga, however, is set to continue.
