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UAW may be key to forced FCA merger with GM

Sergio Marchionne doesn't give up on a business deal easily. While outwardly not much has recently been said about FCA's attempted merger with General Motors, Marchionne might be hoping to garner a powerful, new ally that could help break things wide open. The United Auto Workers retiree health care trust is the single largest shareholder of GM with 8.7 percent of the stock, and having its support would certainly improve FCA's position in getting a deal done. "Whatever happens in terms of consolidation, it would never be done without the consent and support of the UAW," Marchionne said when FCA recently began contract talks with the UAW, The Detroit News reports. The boss is also allegedly on good terms with the union president Dennis Williams. Still, using the organization for a hostile takeover could be very difficult because of the way its votes are structured. Other activist investors might already be on board, though. Marchionne believes that consolidation in the industry is vital because automakers are investing to create the same technologies. A GM/FCA merger still has many roadblocks, though, including the fact that Marchionne's company is smaller than GM. From a regulatory perspective, the size of the merged company could raise serious anti-trust concerns among regulators, according to The Detroit News. There's also the concern for lost jobs from redundant work with the two combined businesses. Even if the UAW angle doesn't work out, there are contingency plans afoot for other merger targets. According to The Detroit News speaking to anonymous insiders, FCA bigwigs have a meeting in London on Thursday to take a close look at other options. In addition to GM, they are investigating possible deals with Volkswagen and the Renault-Nissan Alliance. In the past, PSA Peugeot Citroen and multiple Asian automakers have also been brought up as partners, and UBS has reportedly been providing financial advice on what to do.

Lee Iacocca’s 10,000-square-foot Bel Air mansion hits the market

We’ve seen the auctioning off of much of the estate of the late, famed auto executive and former Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca, who died last year at age 94, including his 1992 Dodge Viper and wood-sided 1986 Chrysler LeBaron Town & Country Convertible. Now comes his former Southern California mansion, which has hit the market for a cool $26.9 million. The Tuscan-style mansion in the tony Bel Air section of Los Angeles is where Iacocca lived following his retirement from Chrysler and the automotive industry in 1992. According to the website TopTenRealEstateDeals.com, itÂ’s a 10,682 square-foot, five-bedroom, eight-bath palace on 1 acre near the Bel Air Country Club. It comes with four ensuite guest rooms, a separate staff apartment, formal living and dining rooms, a wood-paneled library and five (!) fireplaces. High ceilings, chandeliers and expensive wood trim and moulding work abound. ItÂ’s also tailor-made for entertaining, with big open-plan rooms opening to landscaped terraces, a chefÂ’s kitchen, a swimming pool, spa and tennis courts. And in fact, Iacocca was said to have entertained the likes of Bob and Delores Hope, Frank and Barbara Sinatra, Priscilla Presley and Betty White. Oddly, considering Iacocca was one of the first celebrity auto execs, thereÂ’s no information about the estateÂ’s garage; Autoblog has inquired about that with the listing agents and will update this if we hear back. In the overhead view in the gallery above, the driveway leads to the large wing on the left side of the house, so the garage is potentially pretty big, but it's hard to say what else might share space under that roof. Aside from his work developing the iconic Ford Mustang in the 1960s, Iacocca is perhaps best known to generations of Americans for his role rescuing Chrysler from collapse. He did so by securing a $1.2 billion federal loan from Congress, restructuring the company by cutting wages and closing plants introducing popular fuel-efficient cars like the K Car and introducing the minivan. After his retirement in 1992, Iacocca invested in casinos and a line of imported olive oil, and he was a member of several corporate boards.   Featured Gallery Lee Iacocca's Bel Air mansion View 11 Photos Celebrities Chrysler

Fiat Chrysler to get $105M fine from NHTSA for recall woes

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is about to send a powerful message to automakers doing business in the United States, assuming reports of an upcoming $105 million fine against Fiat Chrysler Automobiles comes to fruition. In addition to the record-setting monetary fine, according to The Wall Street Journal, FCA will have to accept an independent auditor that will monitor the company's recall and safety processes and will be forced to buy back certain recalled vehicles. In other cases, such as with Jeep Grand Cherokee and Liberty models with gas tanks that could potentially catch fire in certain types of accidents, FCA will offer financial encouragement for owners to get their recall work done or to trade those older vehicles in on new cars, according to the report. FCA could reportedly reduce its fines if it meets certain conditions, though those remain unclear at this time. These actions against FCA are being taken after NHTSA began a probe into the automaker over almost two dozen separate instances where the government claims FCA failed to follow proper procedures for recalls and safety defects. Included in those safety lapses are more than 11 million vehicles currently in customer hands. These penalties and fines are separate from the investigation over security problems with Chrysler's Uconnect system that allowed hackers to obtain remote access into key vehicle systems in 1.4 million vehicles. Related Video: Image Credit: Marco Bertorello/AFP/Getty Earnings/Financials Government/Legal Recalls Chrysler Dodge Fiat Jeep RAM Safety fiat chrysler automobiles fine