Fiat and Chrysler to Form a Single Company?

For Chrysler, Fiat's boss Sergio Marchionne was the right man at the right time. He helped Chrysler emerge from bankruptcy and applied a major restructuring plan that brought the US-based carmaker back in the elite of the US automotive industry. But the Italian's plans for the Fiat - Chrysler alliance do not stop here.

Speaking at the J.D. Power and Associated International Automotive Roundtable, Sergio Marchionne revealed that forming a single entity from Fiat and Chrysler is not out of the question. At least for now he says but, in case such a thing would happen, don't expect it before Chrysler pays back its loans and goes the IPO way.

“Who knows? In the next two or three years, we could be looking at one entity. It could be based here,” he was quoted as saying by Autonews. "[We're considering a number of] alternatives and scenarios. First we need to integrate them operationally and then look at governance," he added.

Marchionne said earlier this year at the Milan stock exchange that he also considers a 51 percent stake in Chrysler which would basically represent the first step the Italian would have to do to make the Fiat - Chrysler alliance work as a whole. Currently, Fiat holds a 25 percent stake in the American manufacturer, after increasing the share from 20 to 25 percent last month.

"I think it is possible, I don't know whether it is likely, but it is possible that we go over the 50 percent if Chrysler decides to go to the market in 2011," Sergio Marchionne said in January.