The future of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is up in the air right now. After rumors surfaced that China’s Great Wall Motors was interested in buying the Jeep brand, a new report from Bloomberg suggests that FCA is considering spinning off its Maserati and Alfa Romeo luxury marques. Selling those two brands could supposedly bring in as much as $8.3 billion for the company and help boost its stock price.
If FCA decides to go through with this plan, then Jeep would have to stay in order to make the remaining FCA mainstream brands—Fiat, Chrysler, Dodge, and Ram—a viable business proposition. Reducing FCA to these mass-market entities could make the company more attractive to potential partners. The proposal that includes the Maserati and Alfa Romeo spinoffs also includes selling off some of FCA’s parts operations.
Getting rid of Maserati and Alfa Romeo might not be as easy as FCA’s lucrative spinoff of Ferrari two years ago. The Maserati brand has experienced lots of global sales growth recently but it doesn’t have nearly the clout of Ferrari, while Alfa Romeo is just now kicking off a push to become a major global luxury player with new products including the Giulia sedan and the Stelvio SUV. Neither brand has Ferrari’s lucrative non-automotive licensing business.
It’s unclear how soon a transaction could occur. Bloomberg says that a decision likely won’t be made until next year, but given the wildly spinning management style of CEO Sergio Marchionne, anything can happen between now and then.
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