Miken

German Press: Fiat to Sign Deal with Opel, Not Chrysler

Fiat and GM Europe (mostly Opel) have a history. One part of the failed GM/Fiat venture that was beneficial was the exchange of powertrain technology. Fiat's small diesel engine technology was one of the things that GM was interested in and vice versa for gas engines. In fact, that's why GM Powertrain located its European headquarters in Turin, Italy.

So there is more of a 'known entity' with Fiat and GM. For the life of me, I can't quite understand why Fiat would be that interested in Chrysler other than the distribution system and ready made entree to the U.S. market. While the European unions (I.G. Metallurgy) are not wall flowers, they at least don't have the mentality that the UAW has in terms of potentially blowing up the company to get what they want. It just seems that Opel would be a better fit.