A day after the Fiat-Chrysler deal was announced, I'm left with one lingering thought:When?
Will the merger be more solid after Feds give Chrysler another loan?
Will this vanish like the merger between GM and Chrysler only a few short months ago?
What's the production schedule?
Granted, Fiat doesn't have the most reliable record in the business, but then again neither does Chrysler. So here's hoping the sum is greater than the parts.
The first casualty of this merger will no doubt be the Viper. So long American supercar.
With Maserati, Ferrari and a slew of reasons not to make any more gas-guzzling, money-sucking Viper, Fiat/Chrysler won't keep the Viper alive for much longer.
The deal is good for both companies.
Fiat gets a base network of Chrysler dealerships to sell Fiats, a la, Mini for BMW, and a cheap American workforce to ramp up production of increasingly popular Fiats.
Chrysler gets help from someone other than the government and could market small Jeeps and Dodges overseas.
The only hurdle could be half-assed attempts to rebrand a Dodge Neon as a Fiat and vice versa without either company embracing each other.
Make this one for real: Chrysler needs to learn how to incorporate European engineering into their sometimes shoddy cars, and Fiat needs to bring jobs to American shores to do that.
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