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Question of the Day: Most heinous act of badge engineering?

Badge engineering, in which one company slaps its emblems on another company's product and sells it, has a long history in the automotive industry. When Sears wanted to sell cars, a deal was made with Kaiser-Frazer and the Sears Allstate was born. Iranians wanted new cars in the 1960s, and the Rootes Group was happy to offer Hillman Hunters for sale as Iran Khodro Paykans. Sometimes, though, certain badge-engineered vehicles made sense only in the 26th hour of negotiations between companies. The Suzuki Equator, say, which was a puzzling rebadge job of the Nissan Frontier. How did that happen? My personal favorite what-the-heck-were-they-thinking example of badge engineering is the 1971-1973 Plymouth Cricket. Chrysler Europe, through its ownership of the Rootes Group, was able to ship over Hillman Avanger subcompacts for sale in the US market. This would have made sense... if Chrysler hadn't already been selling rebadged Mitsubishi Colt Galants (as Dodge Colts) and Simca 1100s as (Simca 1204s) in its American showrooms. Few bought the Cricket, despite its cheery ad campaign. So, what's the badge-engineered car you find most confounding? Chrysler Dodge Automakers Mitsubishi Nissan Suzuki Automotive History question of the day badge engineering question

Fiat Chrysler's Marchionne is done talking about alliances

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Fiat Chrysler Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne rowed back on his search for a merger on Friday, saying the car maker was not in a position to seek deals for now and would focus instead on following its business plan. Marchionne had repeatedly called for mergers in the car industry and a tie-up has long been seen as the ultimate aim of his relaunch of Fiat Chrysler, which he is due to leave in early 2019 after 15 years at the helm. He sought a merger with General Motors two years ago but was rebuffed. Only last month he said Volkswagen - the market leader in Europe - may agree to discuss a tie-up with FCA in reaction to rival PSA Group's acquisition of Opel. Marchionne told the annual general meeting in Amsterdam he still saw the need for car companies to merge to better shoulder the large investments needed, but said Fiat Chrysler was not talking to Volkswagen. "On the Volkswagen issue, on the question if there are ongoing discussions, the answer is no," he said. He added, without elaborating, that Fiat Chrysler was not at a stage where it could discuss any alliances. "The primary focus is the execution of the plan," he said. FCA has pledged to swing to a 5 billion euro net cash position by 2018, from net debt of 4.6 billion euros at the end of 2016 - an achievement that Marchionne has said would put it in a better position to strike a deal in the future. Volkswagen, which is still reeling from an emissions scandal that hurt its profits, initially spurned FCA's approach. However, CEO Matthias Mueller said last month the group had become more open on the issue of tie-ups and invited Marchionne to speak to him directly rather than with the press. Fiat Chrysler Chairman John Elkann underlined the message that finding a merger partner was not a priority. "I'm not interested in a big merger deal," he said. "Historically, deals are struck at times of difficulty ... we don't want to be in trouble." Elkann is the scion of Fiat's founder and top shareholder the Agnelli family. He has said in the past he was prepared to have the Agnelli's stake severely diluted in exchange for a minority holding in a larger auto group. "I believe the priority for FCA is to press ahead with this ambitious (business) plan despite the difficult environment," he said. FCA pledged in January to nearly halve net debt this year, as part of the 2018 plan. Doubts remain about its exposure to a peaking U.S.

Fiat Chrysler seeks $6.8 billion state-backed loan in Italy

MILAN — Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said on Saturday that Fiat Chrysler was entitled to apply for Italy's state-backed loans because the automaker employs thousands of people in the country, even though its legal base is located abroad. The Italian-American group confirmed on Saturday its Italian unit was working with Rome to obtain state guarantees on a 6.3-billion-euro ($6.8 billion) loan facility designed to help Italy's automotive industry, comprised of approximately 10,000 small and medium-size businesses. The coronavirus outbreak, which has hit Italy especially hard, slammed the brakes on demand for new vehicles and forced automakers to halt most production, burning cash. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles said in a statement that talks were ongoing with lender Intesa Sanpaolo for a three-year credit facility exclusively dedicated to the group's activities in Italy. Asked whether FCA, which has its legal headquarters in the Netherlands, could get a loan guaranteed by the Italian government, Conte said the group qualified. "We're not talking about the parent company, we're talking about the group's companies in Italy, which employ thousands of people," the prime minister said. FCA runs several plants and research and development centers in Italy, directly employing around 55,000 people. In addition, over 200,000 people work in Italy's 5,500 parts suppliers and 120,000 people in car dealers and service companies, with the automotive industry accounting for 6.2% of Italy's domestic product, FCA said. News that FCA was asking the Italian government for liquidity support had raised criticism. The ruling party PD's deputy president, Andrea Orlando, earlier on Saturday said on Twitter that if a company asked the Italian government for sizable financing, it had to bring back its legal base to Italy. The scheme is part of emergency measures the Italian government is making available to the country's businesses. It offers more than 400 billion euros' worth of liquidity and bank loans to companies hit by the pandemic. FCA said the state-backed credit facility it is seeking will have "the sole purpose of providing operational support for payments to Italian suppliers to support their liquidity and, at the same, supporting the restart of production and investment at Italian plants." The group has gradually restarted operations in Italy since the end of April. Related Video: Earnings/Financials Government/Legal Chrysler Fiat coronavirus