Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne has appeared before Italy’s Production and Transportation Committee today (15 February) as the storm surrounding any potential move out of Italy continues to swirl.
The appearance of Marchionne in front of the Committee also known as “Commission No 10” follows a hectic week for the Fiat boss in which he was summoned to meet Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and several of his senior cabinet ministers to elaborate on speculation the manufacturer could move its Italian headquarters.
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Sources in Italy confirmed to just-auto Marchionne’s attendance in Parliament this morning, with the Fiat boss apparently giving a feisty performance.
“He [Marchionne] said the heart of Fiat was in Italy, but wanted to have relations with other cities – nobody can say he can’t say that,” said the source.
“He also said in Italy there [are] many people speak and speak, talk and talk without doing,” they added, noting he also apparently said: “There is much politics and little concrete things.”
The source also added Marchionne apparently highlighted the importance of Chrysler to the development of Fiat, which follows the manufacturer’s speculation about the Italian company potentially merging with its US counterpart at some point.
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By GlobalDataThere has been a media frenzy for the past week as rumours continue to swirl that Fiat could transfer outside Italy, but the automaker came back fighting: insisting: “No decision will be taken until 2014. We were talking about maybe in some future moment in time, should Fiat and Chrysler merge, where would be the headquarters of this merged entity,” a spokesman for the automaker said.
The spokesman added there could be several bases such as Italy, the US, Brazil and China.
