Fiat wants to tie up with Guangzhou Auto

http://chinesecarweb.com/content/images/082008/fiat_in_china.jpg Italian carmaker Fiat is set to restart its China sales network tomorrow, which will sell the imported Bravo and Linea models first. Meanwhile, the talks about locally making the two Fiat models in China are also going on quietly, and the potential Chinese partner this time is Guangzhou Auto Group, not Chery Auto who signed a memo of understanding with Fiat 13 months ago, said xinhuanet.com today. "Guangzhou Auto is not a bad partner," said an insider familiar with Fiat. "Although its capacity and sales are smaller than those of FAW and SAIC, the profit-making capabilities of Guangzhou Auto are extraordinary." In addition, Guangzhou Auto also needs compact vehicle models to expand its product portfolio for larger market share, and Fiat's Bravo and Linea models can fill this gap in Guangzhou Auto's vehicle lineup. Paolo Arpellino, chief representative of Fiat's China office, has strictly controlled the details of the talks, but industry analysts said that it is impossible to make Fiat cars on the production lines of Guangzhou Honda or Guangzhou Toyota, and that the Linea is unlikely to be locally made in China by 2009 because construction of Guangzhou Auto's new manufacturing facility only kicked off in November 2007.
That would be a nice partnership because Guangzhou Automobile is in my opinion a very strong potential player. It has the Japanese managing capabilities and strong assets. And what's more they have big ambitions for the 5 years to come.
Source :Gasgoo.com