Fiat and Chrysler could set up headquarters in the Netherlands in a bid to appease shareholders and pay lower taxes, Italy’s Repubblica newspaper reported Friday. Chrysler once operated an assembly plant in the country.
“In order to avoid local quarrels and to save money on taxes, the new company may be set up in the Netherlands,” Reuters quoted the paper as saying, referring to the alliance between the two carmakers, consolidated in recent months.
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In February, Fiat boss Sergio Marchionne upset Italians by saying the two carmakers could be merged within two or three years into a single company with its headquarters in the United States.
According to Friday’s report, the aim of basing the headquarters in the Netherlands would be “not only to obtain fiscal advantages, but also to defuse a symbolic war between the two sides of the Atlantic.”
Fiat has been running Chrysler since it emerged from bankruptcy in June 2009, gradually increasing its share of the number-three US automaker to 53.5% after buying out a stake held by the US Treasury.
Marchionne, who is widely respected for his remarkable turnaround of Chrysler, has said the alliance will be “one of the four, five or six players that will ultimately be involved in the car business on the global scale.”
Chrysler once operated an assembly plant in Rotterdam. Full details are here, courtesy allpar.com.
