Fiat chief executive Sergio Marchionne will today outline plans to transform the global vehicle landscape by spinning off Fiat's core autos division, joining it with Chrysler and General Motors Europe, and creating a new publicly traded European car giant.
Mr Marchionne wants Italy's largest industrial group to separate Fiat Auto from its other divisions, join them with Opel/Vauxhall, Saab, and GM's other European operations, and Fiat's stake in Chrysler to create a company with about €80bn ($106bn) of revenues and sales of 6m-7m vehicles a year – second to Toyota, more than Renault/Nissan or Ford Motor, or GM itself, and roughly as many as Volkswagen.
Fiat's boss will present his plan this afternoon in Berlin to German vice-chancellor Frank-Walter Steinmeier, economy minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, and Klaus Franz, co-chairman of Opel's supervisory board and head of its works council.