Newsgroup: it.discussioni.auto
Titolo: Press - GM prepares to save Fiat

Da 
autonews.com
Italian automaker's decline speeds integration plan
General Motors is developing a detailed plan to integrate Fiat Auto, the
Italian carmaker that is spiraling downward in sales and financial
performance, into GM's European operations much sooner than originally
anticipated. 
GM CFO John Devine is spending much of his time in New
York, working out a strategy with bankers for getting Fiat as quickly and
cheaply as possible. 
GM executives believe they may need to accelerate
the purchase of the 80 percent of Fiat Auto that GM doesn't already own. GM
wants to stop Fiat's dismal fall before the company becomes worthless. The
longer term upside: The GM-Fiat combine would be the largest automaker in
Europe. 
A team of GM executives in America and Europe is working on
blending Fiat Auto with GM's Adam Opel AG, according to GM sources. The
team is preparing for joint product development, coordination of the
various brands and models, and acceleration of synergies in purchasing,
powertrain and back offices. 
Fiat and GM's Opel/Vauxhall now compete
directly in every significant European market segment. The brand strategy,
which will aim to reduce cannibalization, is complicated by GM's need to
position its newly acquired Daewoo brand in Europe. 
Umberto Agnelli,
younger brother of Fiat patriarch Giovanni Agnelli, is understood to be
ready to sell the car division that Giovanni had vowed to keep. Giovanni,
81, is undergoing treatment for prostate cancer in New York. 
GM is
trying to make the best of a potentially disastrous situation. After
acquiring 20 percent of Fiat Auto two years ago for $2.4 billion, GM is
committed to buying the remainder as early as 2004 if Fiat S.p.A. chooses
to sell it. 
Meanwhile, Opel is struggling and GM must also integrate
Daewoo. Adding Fiat Auto to the mix would be another challenge for top
management. 
Fiat S.p.A. could force GM to buy the rest of Fiat Auto by
exercising a put option that takes effect in January 2004, with the price
set by investment bankers. But GM sources say they want to do the deal now,
before Fiat Auto collapses. Fiat Auto has lost $438 million through April
this year as sales have dived. 
The total market capitalization of Fiat
S.p.A. had dropped to just $7.6 billion last week. Fiat Auto had sales of
$22.8 billion in 2001, representing 42 percent of Fiat S.p.A. sales of
$54.2 billion. 
Sooner is better 
GM's attitude is "the sooner the
better," said a GM executive who asked not to be named. 
"We wanted to
take over Fiat as a whole two years ago, but Giovanni Agnelli refused this
plan," he said. "We want the whole thing." 
GM has hired U.S. investment
banks to advise on the takeover. Two scenarios are being discussed
internally: 
n Taking over Fiat Auto, but not its debt, paying a fair
market price for the shares. 
n Getting the shares free and assuming all
liabilities. 
Sources say GM favors the first route, resembling its
recent acquisition of assets of Daewoo Motor. 
The planning for
integration is not "theoretical games," said a GM source. The company has
"a very detailed integration plan that involves all business areas. We are
prepared for Day One. We can start immediately with full integration of
Fiat into GM Europe. 
"We want to make sure that we don't lose years and
money, as happened to Daimler when it took over Chrysler." 
Not an easy
job 
Still, the integration will not be easy. 
"There would be
humongous problems," said a Fiat executive who asked not to be named.
"There would be tremendous cultural problems in terms of platform sharing.
GM would need visionary leadership." 
The Fiat insider says GM would
find value only in the Alfa Romeo brand and the Fiat Punto supermini, which
he says is the only profitable Fiat-badged model. 
Umberto Agnelli
signaled his willingness to sell early last week while speaking to
shareholders during the annual meeting of IFI, the Agnelli family's holding
company. "It is our duty to permit (Fiat Auto management) to work in
optimal conditions, even if this doesn't happen with Fiat Auto as part of
the Fiat Group," he said. Umberto Agnelli is chairman of IFI and IFIL, the
two family-controlled financial companies that own 30 percent of Fiat Group
shares. 
It was the first time an Agnelli family member has said
publicly that Fiat Auto could be sold. 
In hopes of holding full-year
losses to no more than the $513 million it lost last year, Fiat Auto CEO
Giancarlo Boschetti is slashing spending on new products, marketing and
manufacturing. GM Europe lost $767 million in 2001. 
Big savings
expected 
GM executives say the integration could accelerate cost
savings for both companies. 
"There are maybe five nuts and bolts you
can save when developing a new electric window at Opel and about the same
at Fiat," the source said. "But if you save the whole cost of developing
that device at one company and add the combined purchasing power, then one
plus one equals much more than two." 
GM executives say they have
already worked out detailed plans. For example, Fiat would take the lead on
diesels and Opel on gasoline engines. 
Fiat would lead small-car
development. Opel would head development of compact and mid-sized cars.
Saab would lead in premium segment cars, which would likely feature rear-
and all-wheel drive only. 
GM has already been making decisions based on
the expected takeover. 
"We would have never agreed to share the Corsa
component matrix with the Punto if we weren't sure that all of Fiat will be
part of the family soon," the GM source said. "And we are planning to
integrate the next generation Stilo into the GM Europe component matrix."
Plans already exist for both the differentiation of brands and coverage of
all market niches, he said. 
"We will quickly ensure that overlaps in
the product portfolios of the brands are avoided in order to eliminate
cannibalization," the manager said. "And there will be niche models in all
market segments, though not by each brand in each segment." 
GM expects
dramatic savings in product development, purchasing costs, logistics,
distribution and synergies in the back office. 
Fiat's overcapacity
problem is the only problem GM officials say they cannot address before
taking control of the company. But executives in Detroit are discussing
possible solutions. 
"We know that we can only grow with a refined
multibrand strategy," the manager said. "GM wants to grow, especially in
Europe, and Fiat with its strong customer base especially in the southern
European markets, fits perfectly into our strategy."
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 Da 
autonews.com
[full cut]
Che tristezza... puù anche aver fatto errori enormi, può essere stata
sputtanata da tutti, ma la Fiat fa ormai parte dell'identità nazionale, come
Pippo Baudo o la Nazionale di calcio. Quando (se) accadrà, sarà un grigio
capitolo non solo dell'economia, ma della storia italiana.
E per quanto non ami la Fiat e sia anti-juventino, spero che l'Avvocato
campi altri 50 anni, senza mai vedere la sua fabbrica passare di mano.
Scusate, ma l'Italia è l'Italia.
Ciao
--
Montoya (20, 60, RM)
Peugeot 106 1.1 Driver
(per rispondere in privato elimina il testo in stampatello)

Peugeot 106 1.1 Driver
Ciao
Davide
