UPDATE: Fiat CEO:EU Verheugen Remarks On Car Market Not Helpful
24 April 2009 - 3:58PM
Dow Jones News
Fiat SpA (F.MI) Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne said Friday
the European Commissioner for Industry's skeptical comments on Fiat
SpA's (F.MI) ability to pull off a deal with General Motors Corp.'s
(GM) Adam Opel GmbH weren't helpful or supportive for the future of
the car industry.
Speaking Friday to a Bavarian radio station Bayerischen
Rundfunk, Gunter Verheugen asked where this "indebted" company was
going to find the means to achieve two operations at once,
referring also to Fiat's potential alliance with U.S. automaker
Chrysler LLC.
"I would have expected him to engage in constructive dialogue
with the European carmakers to resolve the issues which are
negatively impacting industry today," Marchionne said, adding
Verheugen was "issuing death sentences for the industry or
unilaterally selecting who will survive".
Fiat Thursday said it was committed to closing a deal with
Chrysler, but signaled it had another option to form an alliance:
General Motors Corp.'s European unit.
Marchionne told reporters he was open to giving GM's Adam Opel
GmbH "a hard look."
But Ruesselsheim, Germany-based Opel appears to be of secondary
importance to Fiat, which for now is focusing its efforts on
sealing a deal with Chrysler.
-By Sofia Celeste, Dow Jones Newswires; +39 06 69766920;
sofia.celeste@dowjones.com