Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) today revealed an official proposal for a merger between the American-Italian auto conglomerate and France's Groupe Renault.
The FCA pitch follows discussions in which both companies identified "products and geographies where they could collaborate" in a 50/50 partnership. FCA, which currently operates the Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram, Fiat and Alfa Romeo brands, says that the merged corporations would sell about 8.7 million vehicles globally every year.
But that number doesn't account for the Nissan and Mitsubishi brands, of which Groupe Renault is a part owner. Including those nameplates in the mix would boost the merged companies' global sales to more than 15 million annually.
However, the FCA proposal positions the Japanese brands "purely as members of the alliance." FCA suggests those two would benefit financially, but would have little say in how the merged FCA/Renault would do business. An 11-member board would include four each from FCA and Renault, but just one from Nissan. FCA doesn't say who the remaining two board members would be.
According to Automotive News, Renault had wanted to form a tighter partnership with Nissan, but the Japanese company was resistant to giving up more of its independence. Automotive News suggests that if FCA and Renault go through with this deal, it could negatively impact Nissan's North American presence. The proposed merger follows the arrest of Nissan and Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn on charges of under-reporting his income and personal use of company assets.
It's now up to Renault to look at FCA's proposed terms and decide whether such a merger is the right move for the French company.
