Fiat will announce details of a new cost-saving industrial alliance for its Auto Division at the end of this month when its second quarter results are published, said Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne on Monday. "The time has come, we will try to announce it with the results of the second quarter," Marchionne told financial reporters yesterday on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the Italian stock market regulatory body, Consob. The Fiat Group is scheduled to publish its second quarter financial results on Monday 24th July.

Fiat have hinted that a new industrial agreement has been on under negotiation for some months now and it follows closely Sergio Marchionne's policy of seeking targeted alliances for the Auto Division that can bring economies of scale and the resultant cost savings in specific areas. However no details have emerged although a wide number of theories abound.
 

Ever since Fiat and US carmaker General Motors terminated their five-year partnership agreement the Italian firm has entered into a number new alliances to undertake specific projects: Fiat will build its exciting new 500 model at its Tychy plant Poland in partnership with Ford Europe, which will use the Panda-based car to replace their ageing Ka model; the long-running light commercial vehicle alliance with PSA Peugeot-Citroën has been widened; Russian carmaker Severstal Auto will begin later this year assembling three models from CKD kits; and an agreement with Indian carmaker Tata Motors which has initially focused around model distribution in India is expected to evolve to joint production.