Fiat agrees three-way deal to make Jeeps in Russia

[alp227]

(Reuters) - Fiat (FIA.MI) and Chrysler said they have entered a joint venture with Russia's Sberbank (SBER.MM) to produce and distribute Jeeps and Chrysler-branded vehicles in high-growth Russia, filling a gap in the Italian firm's geographical reach.

Sberbank intends to finance the project with up to 850 million euros ($1.14 billion) and take a stake of up to 20 percent in the joint venture, which will produce up to 120,000 vehicles per year, Fiat said in a statement.

Most Western car makers have a local partner in Russia, but Fiat opted to go it alone after a provisional deal with Sollers collapsed in 2011. Sollers later teamed up with U.S. car maker Ford (F.N).

full: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/28/us-fiat-russia-idUSTRE81R1MN20120228

[snooper2]

1. In Soviet Russia, Jeep offroads you!

couldn't resist

[former9thward]

2. That bailout of Fiat-Chrysler is really working out.

We save Chrysler so jobs can be outsourced to Russia.

[dmallind]

3. How is it outsourcing to serve a new market with local production?

By that definition all US Chrysler jobs are "outsourced" from Italy.

[former9thward]

6. We should not give corporate welfare to foreign corporations.

[dmallind]

7. Wasn't one when they got the $$$.

[former9thward]

9. It certainly was.

http://www.autoweek.com/article/20090430/CARNEWS/304309998. Now can we get our corporate welfare back?

[Codeine]

4. That's not outsourcing.

They aren't making our Jeeps there -- they're making Jeeps for that market. Makes sense.

[former9thward]

5. It is the very definition of outsourcing.

And you are using the very excuse corporations give when they start factories overseas -- to serve the local market. We should not be giving corporate welfare to foreign companies.

[dmallind]

8. No - it would have to have been produced here first

It's not a question of factory in MI or factory in Russia. It's factory in Russia or no sales. Why would we not want a company that employs Americans to be financially secure at absolutely no cost to Americans? The difference here is you think reason = excuse. Fiat wants to sell in Russia and will build a plant to do so just like Toyota built plants here to sell here. There is no plan whatsoever to send Russian made Jeeps to the US, just like we don't export Toyota pickups made in Indiana to Japan. This plan has no impact in the slightest on the US other than making a company that employs thousandfs of them more profitable at the corporate level. No US jobs lost, and no feasible US jobs located anywhere else.

[former9thward]

10. Chrysler is a foreign corporation.

We should not be giving corporate welfare to ANY corporation but especially not a foreign one. Yes Fiat is going to make Jeeps in Russia to serve that market because that is the decision making process of a foreign corporation. Perhaps a U.S. based corporation would have tried to ship Jeeps to Russia. Your example of the U.S. not sending cars to Japan is not a good one. Japan is a closed market for cars and effectively keeps out U.S. cars from its market. http://autos.aol.com/article/japan-bias/