motor

graywolf624 · 02-13-2005, 04:33 PM

MILAN — General Motors Corp. (GM) will pay Fiat $1.99 billion in a deal to drop an option which would have forced the U.S. giant to buy the Italian firm's loss-making car unit, GM said in a statement.

In the statement, GM said both the Fiat-GM Powertrain (search) and the purchasing joint ventures would be dissolved.

GM will also acquire an interest in "key strategic diesel engine assets and other important rights" through the deal.

GM will return its 10 percent stake in Fiat Auto (search).

A mediation process to sort out the row over the put option ended in stalemate earlier this month but sources said GM and Fiat had continued to negotiate a settlement and avoid a lengthy, distracting court battle.

GM insisted Fiat had invalidated its option to sell 90 percent of Fiat Auto because of restructuring moves at the Italian carmaker. Fiat rejected that and promised to defend the put, which was core to its valuation.

Fiat Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne had threatened to exercise the put any time from Feb. 2 to force a quick valuation of Fiat Auto and squeeze a deal out of GM, not necessarily as a prelude to a sale.

Investors had hopes GM and Fiat would reach an out-of-court settlement, with estimates in news reports ranging from 1.0-1.8 billion euros.

How poor a company do you have to be for gm to pay a billion dollars to get out of buying you?

ZfrkS62 · 02-13-2005, 04:38 PM

i don't the Ferrari owners would have been happy about seeing GM stamped on their cars

I wouldn't exactly call Fiat poor though. I'd love to know what the reason was that GM found to pay that much cash to avoid them.

graywolf624 · 02-13-2005, 04:39 PM

I wouldn't exactly call Fiat poor though. I'd love to know what the reason was that GM found to pay that much cash to avoid them.

fiats 8 billion in debt might have something to do with it.

ZfrkS62 · 02-13-2005, 04:41 PM

hmm..touche..

23790554 · 02-13-2005, 09:28 PM

fiat and lancia should make better cars

numerouno · 02-14-2005, 12:47 AM

And as a result of this, I read somewhere that some internal changes will happen inside Fiat group, the most interesting one for me being separation of Maserati from Ferrari and more cooperation between the Trident brand and Alfa...boy I really hope that in this form the 8C competizione and Brera will finally make it to production...

Refefer · 02-14-2005, 01:05 AM

fiats 8 billion in debt might have something to do with it.

That much?!? No wonder GM is running with their tail between their legs

blah · 02-14-2005, 04:40 AM

Be funny if Ford ended up buying Ferrari. Then Enzo would really be spinning in his grave, while Edsel, and Henry Ford II would be laughing their dead asses off. Hell i think even ferrucio and Ferdinand Porsche would be laughing their dead asses off at that.

Evo · 02-14-2005, 05:53 AM

Originally Posted by blah

Be funny if Ford ended up buying Ferrari. Then Enzo would really be spinning in his grave, while Edsel, and Henry Ford II would be laughing their dead asses off. Hell i think even ferrucio and Ferdinand Porsche would be laughing their dead asses off at that.

Have you heard about that german guy who just recently invented a phone which can " Talk to the dead " .. I would like to use it and call Enzo and tell him that Ford owns your company and liston to his reaction..

ferrarif1fan89 · 02-14-2005, 02:21 PM

Originally Posted by blah

Be funny if Ford ended up buying Ferrari. Then Enzo would really be spinning in his grave, while Edsel, and Henry Ford II would be laughing their dead asses off. Hell i think even ferrucio and Ferdinand Porsche would be laughing their dead asses off at that.

HAHAHAHA!!!!!!!! LMAO! im not as worried about what would happen if ford bought ferrari (look at aston martin!). but if gm bought them..... i think you would start seeing them come up with "Northstar" v12's from the ferrari cars. yuck.

**EDIT** and they would have the same platforms for the 575 replacement as the the corvette, xlr, etc. and ferrari wouuld have an suv made on the trailblazer platform. ewww.....

crayzayjay · 02-14-2005, 02:35 PM

Ferrari will always remain under Italian ownership. You can be pretty sure of that.

graywolf624 · 02-14-2005, 06:43 PM

. but if gm bought them

People said the same thing when ford bought aston and jag.. they were right on the jag part..
GM owned lotus and they didnt screw it up in that short time.

Iwan · 02-16-2005, 03:52 AM

from an italian newspaper, maybe someone who speaks italian can translate
montezemolo's message

cheers, iwan

SilviaEvo · 02-16-2005, 04:15 AM

^^i thought it was that Enzo Ferrari pulled out of the deal?

crayzayjay · 02-16-2005, 06:29 AM

In today's FT:

Fiat, the Italian engineering group, is considering a significant restructuring that will affect the control and management of its Ferrari and Maserati sports car marques and help boost performance at Alfa Romeo.
Maserati is wholly owned by Ferrari, which in turn is 56% owned by Fiat group. Much of the rest of Ferrari is owned by Mediobanca, the Italian bank. Under the move - which could be announced within the next few days - the Fiat group is likely to buy in Maserati and move it into shared development and distribution initiatives with Alfa Romeo.
The revamp also raises the prospect of an initial public offering of Ferrari, which was considered in 2002 but rejected in favour of the sale of the stake to Mediobanca. The strategic rethink would follow Fiat's resolution this week of its dispute with General Motors over the ownership of its lossmaking Fiat Auto division, which accounts for 40% of Fiat's revenues.
It would represent the first big step by Sergio Marchionne, Fiat's chief executive, to demonstrate the group's flexibility and turnround prospects after the settlement with GM. Fiat would not comment yesterday, but insiders said the details were still being worked on and an announcement could be delayed.
Maserati and Ferrari together sell 10,000 cars a year and the two units broke even in 2003. Analysts believe they will see a small loss in 2004 when the results are reported later this month. Fiat believes Maserati would be better positioned for growth if it was separated from Ferrari, in part because it could then use less costly Alfa Romeo components.
Alfa Romeo - which sells about 180,000 cars a year - is one of the few bright spots within Fiat Auto; the rest of the car division is bleeding cash at the rate of about €1bn (£690m) a year.
Alfa could benefit from Maserati's research and development spending, while the two marques could also share marketing and distribution costs. At the moment Alfa is mostly sold in Europe while Maserati uses the Ferrari dealer network in the US. Fiat could decide to relaunch Alfa in the US using that network.
Fiat first acquired half of Ferrari in 1969. Analysts said yesterday it was difficult to estimate what its stock market capitalisation could be. It has very high costs from running its Formula One team, but much of that is covered by sponsorship.