It’s about time. For now Fiat and Mazda only have between them an agreement to jointly build the MX-5, which will be the basis for the Alfa Romeo Spider. But they both want and need.
Fiat, Marchionne’s hand, needs to reach that critical mass of more than 5 million cars sold per year to ensure the long-term survival, and therefore needs a little extra piece of market , especially if it can be in Asian markets, where it still has not set foot firm.
Mazda, meanwhile, with a volume of around one million units per year, need a foreign partner to reduce its dependence on Hiroshima factory and Yen, while closing agreements to share platforms and components thereby adjust their costs to the current situation of the automotive market.
Projects as the future for Europe could charge Mazda 2 special sense of collaboration in this maneuver. But not only that: with a movement of this kind, the Fiat Group would become truly global, capturing market share in all continents?
Cannibal sales? Little, because the customer is very different from Mazda Chrysler or Fiat, although they may have some competition in Alfa Romeo.
And then, why not complete and this operation? Know if there is a memorandum of intent guarded somewhere safe Turin, but while the situation of buying Chrysler is clarified (remember, Fiat wants to have it fully under control by the end of 2014), it seems that there will be time to mingle with Mazda.
Other options, such as Suzuki and Volvo have been left behind in this race, and the new partner is already chosen. What remains is to see how long it takes to materialize all.
