Chrysler is now an Italian car company

Does Ron Burgundy Know That Chrysler’s Now an Italian Car Company?

America just got itself a new Italian automobile company: Chrysler. Fiat agreed to buy the 41.46% of Chrysler shares held by a United Auto Workers union’s healthcare trust for $3.65 billion in cash plus $700 million in future payments for a total of $4.365 billion.



It gives Fiat 100% ownership of the U.S. auto company and completes Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne’s grand strategy to combine the two companies into a more competitive global automaker. Benvenuto Fiat-Chrysler.

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More importantly, it allows Fiat to complete the implementation of its world class manufacturing programs across Chrysler’s operations—something the union agreed to as part of the deal. UAW workers build the Dodge Dart, for instance, which is based on a Fiat-owned Alfa-Romeo platform.



The company wants to be able to benchmarket cars like the Dart with similar products worldwide to continually improve quality and efficiency. For Marchionne, it means that Fiat-Chrysler finally has something it was sorely lacking: a global manufacturing base with enough volume to drive costs down.

(Time)

via ehMac.ca http://www.ehmac.ca/showthread.php?t=115545&goto=newpost