GM Wants 30 Percent Share in Fiat

Twisted are the ways of the financial crisis...The automotive industry is currently going through what may very well be the most exciting times, in terms of new and fascinating developments at least. The most recent one: inside sources claim GM is interested in taking a 30 percent stake in Fiat, as part of the Opel/South America negotiations, according to the New York Times.

Apparently, Fiat's CEO doesn't oppose such an idea. The only problem appears to be that he would only give General Motors a ten percent stake in exchange for Opel. This despite another statement made by Marchionne, who said he is "ready to offer 100 percent of Fiat’s auto unit - clean of debt - and assume Opel’s debt."

The South American operations GM owns are the wild card the Americans want to play in talks with Fiat. Marchionne said in an interview with Bloomberg that "Including GM Latin America in the deal would be the easiest way to add value to the transaction.” The two sides are still trying to evaluate each other.

The representatives of the two companies did not comment on the 30 percent share deal. Still, Marchionne did outline his plans for the future of the company he is now building. Fiat's CEO is planning the merger of the three entities he either controls or plans to control. The purpose is to create one company, comprised of Fiat, Chrysler and GME (Saab, Opel and Vauxhall).

GM's deadline comes at the end of this month, so developments are expected to speed up over the following weeks. Today, GM is expected to post its financial reports for the first quarter of 2009. The figures are expected to show a big loss in the company's books.