Fiat News: Rumorpile: Hyundai Could Take Over Fiat Chrysler Automobiles

[William Maley]

Rumors of a possible buyer for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles have popped up again. Late last week, the Asia Times learned from sources that Hyundai Motor Group CEO Chung Mong-koo is waiting for "an expected decline" in shares of FCA before launching a takeover bid attempt. This is expected to launch sometime between the summer and "prior to the Fiat-Chrysler annual shareholders’ meeting in May 2019."

Reportedly, FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne drew Hyundai's attention by using interest from Great Wall Motor.

The deal is being spurred by Paul Singer, the principal of Elliott Management. Singer made headlines in April by pressuring Hyundai to merge with Mobius, their parts' division to create a new holding company and demanded the company to pay investors more than $10 billion in “excess cash.”

Marchionne has been trying his damnedest to try and find a merger partner for the past few years.

• Tried to work with General Motors CEO Mary Barra about possibly merging the two companies in 2015, but was turned down.
• Rumors about possibly merging with Volkswagen, but was told no.
• Various Chinese automakers considered bidding on FCA, but most deny it.
• Great Wall was considering only purchasing Jeep. However, plans for this were put on ice

Here is the question we find ourselves wondering about, why would Hyundai consider buying FCA? Aside from getting their hands on Jeep and Ram Trucks (FCA's money makers), FCA would be gaining the most from this possible deal.

To throw another wrench into this, Hyundai is currently in the midsts of a reorganization effort and part of that includes possibly replacing Mong-koo who is 80 years old.

Both FCA and Hyundai declined to comment.

Source: Asia Times
Thanks @regfootball for the news tip

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[Robert Hall]

And so the drama continues... 

[David]

Honestly, I see no valid reason for Hyundai to do this, I can see the 80 year old leader stirring the pot to create attention for the company but not really going through with this. The future for FCA is a break up I believe and closer of some product lines. FCA was foolish to waste billions on Alfa to bring it back to life and Fiat can be the Dodge of Europe but otherwise their auto's are garbage that has no valid use in the US or other markets. 

Sergio's leadership has been a political game of making money for this 1% club friends but no real growth of the company. He has failed in regards to growing the company and properly investing back into said name sakes.

Sergio Failure could be the death of all these brands long term if someone does not properly step up and close down the brands that are sucking life from the company and allow to flourish those brands that can.

[Drew Dowdell]

I see this as a very good union.  

Dodge - Sports car / Sports SUV brand

Jeep - duh

Ram - Trucks

Chrysler - American luxury, plus another place to use Genesis platforms

Kia - Where it is now, but move the K900 to Chrysler and Stinger to Dodge, while giving a shared platform for future Sedona/Pacifica and some of the crossovers with Jeep.

Hyundai - Where it is now, maybe toss a platform or two to Chrylser to fill in the blanks.

Genesis - Don't touch, just keep on keepin on. 

If nothing else, just getting the economies of scale would help Chrysler and Dodge live. 

[Robert Hall]

Funny, the Hyundai Accent was sold in Mexico as a Dodge in the past.    The Stinger would definitely fit in with Dodge, even has a Mopar-ish name already.  

I could see Hyundai being a far more competent owner of Chrysler assets than Fiat has been... could be interesting. 

[Drew Dowdell]

The K900, with an appropriate restyle, would make an impressive Imperial.  And it's the kind of grandiose name the Hyundai loves

[David]

I stand totally corrected by @Drew Dowdell and @Cubical-aka-Moltar You guys have convinced me of a better way forward for Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram than anything Fiat / Alfa / Maserati could do.

I am assuming that the whole FCA mess would have to be bought, so maybe Fiat could actually get a superior subcompact platform from Hyundai to replace the garbage they currently have. 

[Drew Dowdell]

Just now, dfelt said:

I stand totally corrected by @Drew Dowdell and @Cubical-aka-Moltar You guys have convinced me of a better way forward for Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram than anything Fiat / Alfa / Maserati could do.

I am assuming that the whole FCA mess would have to be bought, so maybe Fiat could actually get a superior subcompact platform from Hyundai to replace the garbage they currently have. 

The main thing is that Kia / Hyundai have money and FCA does not. They already share some 4-cylinder engines.  They could combine transmission tech fairly easily since none of Chryslers are actually made by Chrysler.  I would imagine the Pentastar would die in favor of Kia's 3.8 liter.  A shame, but it is what it is.  Chrysler's hybrid version of it is da-bomb though and I bet Kia and Hyundai could make use of it. 

[regfootball]

[riviera74]

Sergio, like Cerberus and Daimler before him, saw a property to be exploited rather than maintained and cultivated.  Wall Street capitalism has its points, but the financial subjugation of the economy one sector at a time is really causing some serious problems for all concerned. . . . . except for the 1%.  Which is why Sergio is doing this: the search for more money.  Corporate raiders on Wall Street would be proud of this guy.  Michigan on the other hand . . . .

[smk4565]

I see this making sense for Hyundai if Sergio can shut down at least Chrysler and maybe Dodge also.  The Pacifica as a product would be a good fit to rebadge to Hyundai and Kia.  Chrysler/Dodge have nothing else that Hyundai needs, they already have the Genesis cars for rear drive luxury, they have the Stinger as a performance sedan, which is way better than any Dodge.  Maybe you could argue a Challenger/Charger are full size rear drivers, but that is a dying market.

Ram trucks and Jeep make perfect sense for Hyundai, they have no overlap as it is with those brands.  Hyundai can pick and chose between the 4, 6 and 8 cylinder engines they have and FCA has to power such products.

Alfa Romeo and Maserati give them that high end luxury car, that Genesis will never be.  They can try as much as they want with Genesis, but it will always come across as a fancy Hyundai just like Acura comes across as a fancy Honda.   But the other option could be for Hyundai to buy all of FCA, and then sell Alfa and Maserati to the Chinese and get a quick $5-10 billion in cash.

[frogger]

Well I hope Hyundai has tonnes of money to burn, I'm guessing almosy all models in progress at FCA aside from Jeep and RAM are crappy because FCA.

 

[riviera74]

23 hours ago, frogger said:

Well I hope Hyundai has tonnes of money to burn, I'm guessing almosy all models in progress at FCA aside from Jeep and RAM are crappy because FCA.

 

And if Hyundai buys FCA, Sergio gets what he wants for his overlords in Italy ----- a successful quest for more money.

[daves87rs]

On 7/2/2018 at 10:23 AM, Drew Dowdell said:

I see this as a very good union.  

Dodge - Sports car / Sports SUV brand

Jeep - duh

Ram - Trucks

Chrysler - American luxury, plus another place to use Genesis platforms

Kia - Where it is now, but move the K900 to Chrysler and Stinger to Dodge, while giving a shared platform for future Sedona/Pacifica and some of the crossovers with Jeep.

Hyundai - Where it is now, maybe toss a platform or two to Chrylser to fill in the blanks.

Genesis - Don't touch, just keep on keepin on. 

If nothing else, just getting the economies of scale would help Chrysler and Dodge live. 

 

Kinda thinking along the same line when I heard about it...might be the best melting of two companies that I can see right now.

Dodge and Chrysler would give the Korean twins and style and substance-maybe even a set of balls. Could give a great mix of old school and even a nod the the tuner crowd. (older now) Grow a car company for the car guys...

One of the few mixes were both could pretty much keep the current product line- maybe share some future products....

If properly done, could make a very dangerous pair......

[Suaviloquent]

Hyundai has the scale and FWD platforms that FCA badly needs.

I mean is the merger worth having some vestigial control over Ferrari? And Jeep is Jeep, RAM trucks would just be a knockout l, but then why save Chrysler or Dodge?

Maybe the 300 could be reborn on the Genesis G80 platform to keep its costs down, but seriously that is already what the G80 is....a Hyundai value play almost full size heavy solidly built RWD luxury sedan. Slightly smaller than the 300 but really a modern 300 would be better downsized compared to the Charger anyways. 

 

Tau vs HEMI V8. Who wins there? 

 

 

[balthazar]

I can see discussion on Chrysler as potentially jockeying vs. Genesis, but hyundai has nothing like what Dodge offers. As a dedicated performance arm, Dodge is potentially quite worth keeping on.

 

It's not like Dodge is still way back here and overlapping hyundai :

Edited July 8, 2018 by balthazar

[Drew Dowdell]

20 hours ago, Suaviloquent said:

Hyundai has the scale and FWD platforms that FCA badly needs.

I mean is the merger worth having some vestigial control over Ferrari? And Jeep is Jeep, RAM trucks would just be a knockout l, but then why save Chrysler or Dodge?

Maybe the 300 could be reborn on the Genesis G80 platform to keep its costs down, but seriously that is already what the G80 is....a Hyundai value play almost full size heavy solidly built RWD luxury sedan. Slightly smaller than the 300 but really a modern 300 would be better downsized compared to the Charger anyways. 

 

Tau vs HEMI V8. Who wins there? 

 

 

Ferrari has already been legally separated from FCA.  Maserati is as well.