Marchionne Says Fiat's "No-Cash" Offer Is the Best Opel Could Get

Sergio Marchionne, who currently plays one of the key roles in Opel's selling saga, continues his efforts to convince the German government and GM Europe that Fiat is the right solution for Opel's future. Furthermore, he emphasized once again that the "no-cash, no-debt" proposal he submitted is the best offer Opel could get, despite that Magna International, one of the other two interested parties also considers a money bid.

Marchionne's plan is quite simple. According to Autonews, Fiat wants to take over Opel and the British car manufacturer Vauxhall and include them in the large group of European brands it already owns. After that, the company would turn the six-brand conglomerate into a new, publicly-listed European automaker that would better tackle the economic threats.

In an interview for the German magazine Der Spiegel, Marchionne underlined that such a large group would gain much more money than by the brands on their own. "Last year, our automotive sector generated 2.5 billion euros in EBITDA (earning before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization)," Marchionne said.

Nevertheless, opinions are still divided on the future Opel investor. Some sources familiar with the matter unveiled that German officials are more pleased with Magna's proposal than with Fiat's, partially because the company also intends to inject money in the ailing automaker. According to the proposal Magna submitted last week, the Canadian-Austrian company intends to invest around 700 million euros with the help of its Russian partner Sberbank. Furthermore, Magna would still leave a stake in Opel to the company's employees, while some of the investment would be guaranteed by the government.

So, what would Marchionne do if the bid fails? "I will not fall into depression," he concluded, adding that French automakers are not one of his targets as revealed by some media reports.