Fiat-Chrysler relocates HQ to London

12 May, 2014 11:43am Oliver Kew

New model explosion from Fiat-Chrysler will be commanded from London base, according to CEO Sergio Marchionne

Fiat-Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne has announced that the brand is to relocate its global headquarters to London, as it prepares for a make-or-break deluge of new models between now and 2018.

In good news for the UK economy, Fiat-Chrysler’s newly merged board will set up shop in London as a ‘neutral ground’ between Chrysler’s home market of the US and Fiat’s Turin base. Chrysler is currently based in Auburn Hills, Michigan USA.

The move away from North America is set to anger US taxpayers, after $7.6 billion (£4.5 billion) of government aid was used to bail out beleaguered Chrysler in the wake of the global economic crash in 2009.

Meanwhile, Italy stands to lose out financially, due to its comparatively high corporate tax rates. London is an attractive base to Fiat-Chrysler not just because of its central positioning between the brand’s two biggest markets, but because London is a relative tax haven for large corporations.

In 2015, the UK’s corporate tax rate is set to drop from 21% to 20%, which could make a very healthy difference to Fiat-Chrysler’s balance sheet. Italy charges businesses a 31.4% corporate tax rate, predictably putting off the money-conscious Fiat-Chrysler outfit, which aims to double profits with an ambitious ‘five-year plan’ announced last week.

Fiat-Chrysler is promising a radical rethink of its model ranges, in an effort to rescue its fortunes and pump up output by 61% by 2018. The $67 billion (£39.6 billion) masterplan includes shifting the Fiat range into two Panda and 500-themed lines, kickstarting Alfa Romeo’s revival with a rear-drive platform to fight BMW, plus vital new big-selling SUVs from Jeep and Maserati.

Disqus - noscript

Submitted by Mr J on Mon, 2014-05-12 14:09.

New model explosion? They'll have to do better than the 500L.

Submitted by anon on Mon, 2014-05-12 18:57.

Guess you're not up with current affairs in Fiat-Chrysler Mr J

Submitted by Guest on Mon, 2014-05-12 19:08.

Come on Sergio Marchionne - you can do a lot better than re-gurgitate old and ever fatter and heavier cars! At least the Alfa 4C is a start - but not much use for a young family. The 500 was good - especially in diesel and abarth forms when it first appeared but now you are super sizing it as if it has eaten too many American hamburgers! That 500XL range is grotesque! Bring back the Italian flair in your design department ! Please do not copy the Nissan CashCow or other ugly SUVs like the now huge BMW x3 and worthless Audi Q7! Alfa is not an SUV brand! Destroy all teh chysler based Lancias - it is one thing to die gracefully and quite another to rebrand it into something that would turn Vincenzo Lancia in his grave! Make Lancia the technical brand to beat BMW i range and win WRC from those huge MINIs!

Submitted by Guest on Mon, 2014-05-12 19:10.

Come on Sergio Marchionne - you can do a lot better than re-gurgitate old and ever fatter and heavier cars! At least the Alfa 4C is a start - but not much use for a young family. The 500 was good - especially in diesel and abarth forms when it first appeared but now you are super sizing it as if it has eaten too many American hamburgers! That 500XL range is grotesque! Bring back the Italian flair in your design department ! Please do not copy the Nissan CashCow or other ugly SUVs like the now huge BMW x3 and worthless Audi Q7! Alfa is not an SUV brand! Destroy all those awful Chysler based Lancias. It is one thing to die gracefully and quite another to rebrand it into something that would turn Vincenzo Lancia in his grave! Make Lancia the technical brand to beat BMW i range with electric and H2 cars and give motorsport fans an INTEGRALE/STRATOS/FULVIA icon to wrest the WRC from those huge MINIs!

Submitted by info on Mon, 2014-05-12 19:12.

Come on Sergio Marchionne !

You and the FIAT team can do a lot better than re-gurgitate old and ever fatter and heavier cars! At least the Alfa 4C is a start - but not much use for a young family. The 500 was good - especially in diesel and abarth forms when it first appeared but now you are super sizing it as if it has eaten too many American hamburgers! That 500XL range is grotesque! Bring back the Italian flair in your design department ! Please do not copy the Nissan CashCow or other ugly SUVs like the now huge BMW x3 and worthless Audi Q7! Alfa is not an SUV brand! Destroy all those awful Chysler based Lancias. It is one thing to die gracefully and quite another to rebrand it into something that would turn Vincenzo Lancia in his grave! Make Lancia the technical brand to beat BMW i range with electric and H2 ECO cars and give motorsport fans an INTEGRALE/STRATOS/FULVIA icon to wrest the Paris Dakar from those huge MINIs and the WRC from those pesky VW POLOs!

Submitted by LeventTaskan on Tue, 2014-05-13 06:59.

well it didn't really help that nobody literally and figuratively bought 300 as a Lancia Thema.

Submitted by Widget on Wed, 2014-05-14 07:47.

Administrative HQ fine, but keep engineering and main production in Italy. There's a certain something about Italian cars and FIAT must preserve it.

Submitted by MothersRuin on Wed, 2014-05-14 07:58.

What's missing from this article is the fact that the new holding company is incorporated in the Netherlands, with the CEO and directors operating from London, everything else mainly in Turin and Michigan. All of this is basically a charade. .

Submitted by agi anghel on Wed, 2014-05-14 11:45.

Marchionne , before relocate in London , you must solve some problems - big prices at cars , low quality at cars , problems in service (unskilled mechanics), high prices at changes parts , low quality at changes parts (original parts) , not care what happen with cars after sale. I know all this because i have Fiat. My Fiat - 3 steering boxes damaged in 75000 km !! and many other parts damaged. Fiat told me - ,,is not our problem,, !!!!!

Submitted by Higgins Wisepiggy on Sat, 2014-05-17 19:11.

Well put but we heard you well enough the first time!