FIAT Taking of Chrysler's Good Assets Approved

Italy's Fiat is the new owner of the bulk of Chrysler's assets, closing a deal Wednesday that saves the troubled U.S. automaker from liquidation and places a new company in the hands of Fiat's CEO.

The deal clears the way for a new, leaner Chrysler Group LLC to emerge from bankruptcy protection minus billions in debt, 789 dealerships and labor costs that nearly sank the storied automaker.

Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne immediately was named CEO of the new company, which said in a statement that it would soon reopen Chrysler factories that were idled during the bankruptcy process, costing the automaker $100 million per day.

The new company will focus on smaller vehicles, areas in which Chrysler was weak. "Work is already under way on developing new environmentally friendly, fuel-efficient, high-quality vehicles that we intend to become Chrysler's hallmark going forward," the new company said in a statement.

The Italian automaker won't put any money into the deal but will give Chrysler billions worth of small car and engine technology. "We intend to build on Chrysler's culture of innovation and Fiat's complementary technology and expertise to expand Chrysler's product portfolio both in North America and overseas," Marchionne said in a statement.

A senior administration official said last week that Marchionne will make management changes in short order. Chrysler CEO Bob Nardelli is stepping down while Vice Chairman Tom LaSorda already has retired.

On Tuesday, Chrysler won its battle to erase its secured debt after the Supreme Court declined to rule on objections to the sale to Fiat from a trio of Indiana pension and construction funds. The Indiana funds, which hold less than 1 percent of Chrysler's $6.9 billion in secured debt, claimed the sale unfairly favors Chrysler's unsecured stakeholders such as the union ahead of secured debtholders like themselves. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg decided Monday to delay the sale while studying the appeals. But on Tuesday, the court turned down the opponents' last-ditch bid by declining a hearing on the appeals. Also on Tuesday, Judge Arthur Gonzales approved Chrysler's motion to terminate 789 of its dealer franchises, or about 25 percent of its dealer base. Many of those dealers closed their doors for good on Tuesday, though some will continue to sell used cars or other brands. Chrysler has maintained that the closures are a necessary part of its plan to cut costs. Jim Press, Chrysler's vice chairman and president, told a Senate committee that the poor performance of many of the dealers slated to lose franchises costs the company $1.5 billion in lost sales each year, along with $150 million in advertising and marketing costs and $33 million in administrative costs.

The dealers had argued that they cover their own costs and little would be gained by terminating their franchises. Chrysler attorneys said the automaker would extend until Monday its program to help the affected dealers send any unsold vehicles to stores that will remain open. Chrysler's swift passage through about five weeks of bankruptcy proceedings was helped by the involvement of the Obama administration's auto task force, which provided billions in financing and helped negotiate a deal with the company's stakeholders.

Under the agreement brokered in the days leading up to Chrysler's Chapter 11 filing, Fiat will receive its sdtake in Chrysler in exchange for sharing the technology Chrysler needs to create smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles.

The United Auto Workers union will get a 55 percent stake that will be used to fund its retiree health care obligations, while the U.S. and Canadian governments will receive a combined 10 percent stake. Fiat would get 20 percent, with the possibility of up to 35 percent.

Meanwhile, the automaker's secured debtholders would get $2 billion in cash, or about 29 cents on the dollar, for their combined $6.9 billion in debt. Some debtholders, including the Indiana funds, balked at the deal, saying as secured lenders they deserved more. The funds also challenged the constitutionality of the Treasury Department's use of money from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, to supply Chrysler's bankruptcy protection financing. They say TARP was earmarked for the financial industry and diverted to the auto industry without Congressional authority.

Consumer groups and individuals with product-related lawsuits also contested a condition of the Chrysler sale that would release the company from product liability claims related to vehicles it sold before the asset sale to Fiat. Compensation for such claims would have to come from the parts of the company not being sold to Fiat. But those assets have limited value and it's unlikely there will be anything to pay out.

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Chrysler Fiat: Chrysler Heads to Bankruptcy, Fiat Execute its 20% Stake

As WebVisionItaly.com correctly predicted a few weeks ago here, Chrysler will file bankruptcy today in New York due to the real-world nature of business, which includes the right of debt-holders to have a fair hearing in court regarding the disposition of Chrysler's assets vis-a-vis the debt's right to collect its collateral because of Chrysler's bankruptcy filing and debt-payment default. There are also fat cats who own CDS that made the bet Chrysler would enter bankruptcy that stand to make big bucks once the filing is official. The debt and the CDS (credit default swap) holders are not going to pushed around or pushed out of profits by President Obama or Congress. They are going to collect, and quite possibly AIG will need another bailout to payoff all the hedge funds who bet correctly that Chrysler would enter bankruptcy and therefore are due a big payout.

Hedge funds invest in businesses for a variety of reasons, one of which is to seize assets in bankruptcy court when management's rosy business sceanarios that secured the debt do not come to fruition. It is fairly common for hedge fund investors to make a bet that a company is going down the tubes, at which point a hedge fund invests in a company's debt to fund management's last-ditch efforts. Hedge funds grant the last wish while collaterized the debt with the companies assets with an eye towards seizing these assets once management's failures are manifest. And desperate management does desperate things like use assets to collaterize debt, as Robert Nardelli, Chrysler CEO and Home Depot fame, did with Chrysler's assets to the tune of $8 billion.

Despite Congress' recent unwillingness to accept capitalism in all its messiness, the hedge funds play hard ball to, which they did today, teaching the President and Congress that U.S. business people still exist who will not cave to Washington's nanny state moves. And of course, just as the CDS winners were paid off after the banks collapsed with government funds run through AIG, the Chrysler CDS holders who bet on bankruptcy will be getting a big pay day by close of business today.

President Barack Obama said today that Chrysler LLC will file a historic bankruptcy shortly, backed by up to $3.5 billion in new government aid designed to allow a Chrysler-Fiat partnership to emerge from court in 30 to 60 days.

The move also sends a strong signal to bondholders at General Motors Corp. that the Obama auto task force will act on its vow to take GM into a similar bankruptcy if they do not agree to swap their GM debt for shares in a reworked GM.

Under Chrysler's bankruptcy, to be filed in New York in a matter of hours, the two automakers along with the UAW, Fiat and a majority of lenders will ask a judge to force a swap of $6.9 billion in debt for $2 billion in cash. The number of Chrysler dealers, now about 3,200, will be reduced through bankruptcy, but the administration officials did not say how many would be eliminated.

The agreement with Fiat will allow the Italian company to take a 20% stake in Chrysler that will grow as Fiat meets certain milestones, such as building new models in Chrysler plants. In addition to the $3.5 billion in financing to keep Chrysler operating while in bankruptcy, the government will also provide up to $4.7 billion for the new Chrysler once it emerges.

The Obama administration will also give additional aid to GMAC so that it can take over lending to Chrysler's customers and dealers from Chrysler Financial, which the government has deemed not viable. And the Canadian government will also provide new financial aid to Chrysler's operations in that country in return for 2 per cent in the new Chrysler.

The administration portrays its "surgical" bankruptcy of one of Detroit’s major automakers as just a legal chore, rather than the threat to Chrysler’s existence and the entire U.S. auto industry that Chrysler itself had described less than three months ago. Administration officials said Chrysler would operate as usual during bankruptcy, and that no additional job cuts were anticipated as of now.

The government will take a stake in the company and have a say in helping Chrysler and Fiat select a new board of directors. Chrysler Chief Executive Robert Nardelli has said he would step down after the partnership was cemented.

The decision to take Chrysler into bankruptcy came after three lenders -- Oppenheimer Funds, Perella Weinberg Partners, and Stairway Capital – balked at the original $2-billion offer, as well as an increase of $250 million from Treasury on Wednesday evening. The White House and Michigan’s congressional delegation pressed the holdouts to agree by 6 p.m. Wednesday, but no deal was reached.

The administration "was willing to give the holdout creditors a final opportunity to do the right thing," an administration official said. But "the agreement of all other key stakeholders ensured that no hedge fund could have a veto over Chrysler's future success."

The lack of an agreement will not "impede the new opportunity Chrysler now has to restructure and emerge stronger going forward," the official said.

The U.S. Treasury had guaranteed the warranties of Chrysler and General Motors Corp. in part to assuage worries of customers who might think twice before buying from a bankrupt automaker. GM has a June 1 deadline to reach its own debt agreement or go through a similar move.

President Obama said Wednesday that “even if they (Chrysler) ended up having to go through some sort of bankruptcy, it would be a very quick type of bankruptcy and they could continue operating and emerge on the other side in a much stronger position.”

The UAW late Wednesday night overwhelmingly ratified cost-cutting changes in its labor contract that freeze wages for Chrysler's 26,000 U.S. hourly workers and slash more than $5 billion from what Chrysler was to pay into a retiree health care trust next year. That trust would own 55% of the new Chrysler, while Fiat would start with a 20% stake and the government would own another large portion.

Fiat will ratify its agreement with Chrysler today to share technology and engineering resources Chrysler and the UAW have valued at $8 billion to $10 billion.

The Obama auto task force had been pressing for GMAC LLC to step into the role held by Chrysler Financial. It was not immediately clear how much additional aid or regulatory help GMAC would receive for taking on the role, nor what would happen to Chrysler Financial.

Another lingering question: whether Fiat would sell vehicles under its own brands through Chrysler, even as the government pressed GM to cull its brands due to shrinking U.S. market share. WebVisionItaly.com is hopeful Fiat will launch its brands under its name in North America, although Chrysler's Nardelli up to now has stated Chrysler wants to keep its skin with the Fiat underneath, maybe to placate the taxpayers and the union who are ultimately paying for this business gamble.

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Chrysler Fiat Done Deal With Spoonful of Taxpayers' Sugar

When Fiat SpA’s Sergio Marchionne predicted six months ago that only half a dozen car makers would have the scale to weather the credit crisis, analysts questioned whether the Italian company would be among them. Fiat sells little more than 2 million vehicles worldwide. Marchionne stated for car manufacturing to be a sustainable business a company must sell 6 million vehicles per year.

Now, 6 months later, with U.S. automaker Chrysler facing bankruptcy in 24 hours, Marchionne will announce Thursday that the Fiat Chrysler deal is done. "Chrysler will survive and avoid liquidation, whether that happens in or out of bankruptcy remains uncertain at this point," a source told WebVisionItaly.com. Sources said Wednesday that despite the partnership, Chrysler could still wind up under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for a short time if some creditors don't agree to reduce their debt. Chrysler, which is subsisting on $4 billion in federal loans, is under a mandate from Mr. Obama to cut its labor costs and debt and complete an alliance with the Italian automaker Fiat by midnight tomorrow, April 30, if Chrysler is to get further government assistance.

But they said the government would agree to finance the restructuring rather than cut off Chrysler's aid and leave it destined for liquidation.

With union issues nearly out of the way and the debt resolved either in or out of court, Fiat agreed to cement the partnership with Chrysler.

"It'll be signed by tomorrow, I know that," an insider told WebVisionItaly.com.

Fiat has agreed to contribute small cars, engines and other technology to Chrysler, in exchange for an initial 20 percent ownership stake and influence over Chrysler’s board and management. Fiat could increase its stake up to 35 percent by meeting certain performance objectives.

The basic idea of this alliance is certainly solid. Chrysler gains access to Fiat's extensive range of small car platforms, while the Italian automaker gets access to Chrysler's American factories and dealer network -- two pieces that could allow it to get back into the world's most lucrative market.

The Fiat alliance has also drawn full support from the U.A.W., whose members made big concessions to stave off the failure of Chrysler.

In a letter to Chrysler workers, the union’s president, Ron Gettelfinger, said the concessions were “essential to securing federal loans to keep Chrysler in business.” The union’s trust will, in effect, become Chrysler’s biggest shareholder overnight. It also may have a seat on the company’s reconstituted board of directors.

On Sunday, the Canadian Auto Workers ratified concessions to the automaker, and the United Auto Workers in the U.S. reached a tentative cost-cutting deal that members will finish voting on by Wednesday night.

Factory-level union leaders voted unanimously Monday night to recommend approval of the concessions.

Then on Tuesday, four major banks that hold 70 percent of Chrysler's $6.9 billion in secured debt agreed to a deal that would erase the debt for $2 billion in cash. The four largest banks in the group — JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs — have agreed to the terms. Together, they hold about 70 percent of Chrysler’s debt.

But a handful of hedge funds that hold the remainder of the debt have refused to go along, leading to further negotiations.

The people familiar with the deal said that if the hedge funds don't agree, Chrysler could go into a short "surgical" bankruptcy under Section 363 of the bankruptcy code.

If Chrysler enters bankruptcy, only a majority of the company’s secured lenders are needed to initiate the government’s debt proposal. The smaller lenders would have little power to stop the debt from being restructured in bankruptcy court, since the lenders holding the majority of the debt are on board with the plan, the people said.

If an agreement is reached, Chrysler would restructure outside of bankruptcy with government help, they said.

After Fiat's successful Chrysler courtship the fact remains that both companies are on life support, and the only question now is does Chrysler pull Fiat under with it. The good news for Fiat and its debt holders is that the green technology is valued at $8+ billion, strengthening Fiat's balance sheet which helps it re-negotiate its remaining $11B in debt.

Fiat knows that this deal between the two crippled companies is not the life preserver it needs. Therefore Fiat has moved on to negotiations to buy General Motor's Opel brand in Europe, which would add another 2 million units so that the three combined companies would have sales equaling Marchionne's goal of 6M units. Of course next year's sales will not match last year's, but by 2011 Fiat could have re-tooled Chrysler plants with its green technology just in time for the coming recovery Washington promises.

“Five years ago it was GM calling the tune for Fiat,” Stephen Pope, chief global strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald in London, told Bloomberg News. “Now, Marchionne may take the first-mover advantage in a wave of global consolidation.”

Marchionne, by insisting on not putting cash into Chrysler, is trying to avoid what Germany’s Daimler AG did -- paying $36 billion for Chrysler in 1998 only to sell it nine years later for $7.4 billion. Chrysler’s dire situation may help Turin, Italy-based Fiat succeed today where Daimler failed.

Fiat ranked No. 8 globally in car-making in 2007, including trucks and buses, according to the International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers.

Italy’s Agnelli family, Fiat’s controlling shareholders, picked Marchionne to run Fiat in 2004 from Geneva-based SGS SA, an Agnelli company he turned around by cutting costs. He had also tripled profit at Lonza, a Swiss maker of drug ingredients.

Fiat Recovery

Fiat, Italy’s biggest manufacturer, had run up 8 billion euros of losses in the four years before Marchionne became CEO. The executive, who shuns suits in favor of blue sweaters, brought Fiat back to profit in 2005 by eliminating jobs and speeding up the introduction of new models, turning the laggard of the European auto industry into one of the region’s most fashionable brands with the new retro 500 small car, the remake of the Punto and the Bravo compact.

Chrysler received $4 billion in loans from the government in early January and has been told it will get $500 million more. It may receive as much as $6 billion in additional loans by completing a Fiat alliance before April 30.

Plans are now underway for President Barack Obama to deliver a speech on Chrysler Fiat news Thursday morning, though people who have been briefed on the matter said that two versions of the speech are now being drafted-one if Chrysler has to file for bankruptcy protection, and another if it manages to avoid that outcome.

President Obama, speaking at a town-hall style event near St. Louis, said earlier Wednesday that he didn't know if a deal to save Chrysler would be completed.

"We're hoping that you can get a merger where the taxpayers will put in some money to sweeten the deal but, ultimately, the goal is we get out of the business of building cars, and Chrysler goes and starts creating the cars that consumers want," he said.

Under the original agreement between Fiat and Chrysler, the Italian company would get 20 percent of the third-largest U.S. carmaker in return for access to the Italian company’s small-car technologies. Chrysler wouldn’t get any cash from Fiat.

The UAW’s retiree health-care fund will own 55 percent of Chrysler in exchange for cutting half the automaker’s $10.6 billion cash obligation to the trust, people familiar with negotiations said. The tentative agreement was approved unanimously yesterday by UAW leaders, one of the people said, and must be ratified by union locals.

Daimler said yesterday it will cede its remaining 19.9 percent stake in Chrysler to Cerberus Capital Management LP and write off a $1.5 billion loan, steps needed for the U.S. automaker to avoid bankruptcy. Cerberus, which holds the rest of Chrysler, has said it would give up ownership to allow a reorganization without resorting to bankruptcy.

Opel, Magna

Fiat spokesman Gualberto Ranieri said he had no comment on the status of the company’s pursuit of any link with Ruesselsheim, Germany-based Opel beyond what Marchionne said April 23, when he told analysts that the Chrysler deal remained his “first and foremost objective.”

Fiat is competing against auto-parts supplier Magna International Inc. for a stake in GM’s European arm, German regional official Hendrik Hering said in an April 23 interview. Detroit-based GM, racing to restructure by June 1 to avoid bankruptcy, said this month more than half a dozen “serious” investors were interested in Opel.

Magna and Fiat have provided “markedly different” terms for preserving Opel’s workforce and factories, Guttenberg said. The minister reiterated that GM needs to provide more information on Opel to the government, which is being asked to back loans, and to any suitors. Fiat and Magna plan to hold talks with GM shortly, he said.

“Running all three looks beyond ambitious,” said Sanford Bernstein’s Max Warburton in London, who has a “market- perform” rating on Fiat. A tie-up with both Chrysler and Opel would amount to “building an empire while Rome burns.”

Warburton cited European losses at Fiat’s auto division and looming problems for its Iveco unit as truck sales slump. Marchionne should focus on Opel and drop Chrysler, which offers few synergies besides steel purchasing, he said.

Some Italian unions also are skeptical about Marchionne’s international moves. “Fiat can’t continue to not say anything about the future of workers in our country and present industrial plans in other countries,” Gianni Rinaldini, head of the Fiom-Cgil metalworkers union, said yesterday.

Responding to the concerns during the April 23 analysts call, Marchionne agreed that deals driven by empire-building ambitions are “nonsense,” maintaining that his plans were “purely based on industrial efficiency.”

A government-led plan to salvage Chrysler by merging it with Italy's Fiat may turn out to be a big fat lemon that could cost taxpayers billions more in rescue cash if the combination crashes.

The Obama administration has been scrambling to save Chrysler for months, but industry sources have questioned the merits of merging it with the Italian car manufacturer, which has its own set of woes.

For one thing, Fiat's car sales are getting help from the Italian government, which launched a plan to provide consumers with incentives to buy new cars.

Also, the Italian market, which represents about one-quarter of Fiat's sales, is expected to soften if not crash as the European economy starts to slide further into trouble. For sure sales of Fiat's high-end Ferrari and Maserati units will drop off in the wake of the economic crisis.

At this point, a government-imposed deadline for the restructuring of Chrysler slated for tomorrow is looming with a deal racing toward a conclusion.

However, it's the government's desire to speed toward a completion of a deal that has a lot in the auto industry and on Wall Street thinking that a slapdash hookup is a quick salve that could wind up totaling both enterprises.

Fiat in the three months ending in March lost 32 cents a share, or $500 million, after posting a 13-cent gain in the prior quarter and much higher earnings during the rest of 2008. Beyond that, it owes $11 billion and is rumored to be selling its farm equipment unit to raise money.

Part of Fiat's problem is it has too many employees in a declining auto market, and cannot easily fire workers.

So thanks to the U.S taxpayer these two struggling car makers have bought some time to fight another day. WebVisionItaly.com has a feeling this is not the end of the story. Stay tuned...




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Chysler and Fiat Alliance: Why the deal WILL NOT Happen Within Obama Administration Timeline

Fiat Group SpA has been trying to get a big piece of Chrysler for next to no money, by exchanging its intellectual property for 35% of the company while the American taxpayers are on the hook for $7 billion to make the partnership happen. The Chrysler - Fiat deal most likely will not go through within the Obama administration's time-line due to the real-world nature of business. Despite the fact the Chrysler is broke, the debt holders may want to seize the collateral rather than keep Chrysler on life support while watching shares be diluted from a 35% ownership stake converted to Fiat. This means Chrysler is going to take a trip to bankruptcy court with or without Fiat and regardless of what government bureacrats, President Obama, and Congress think about standard business practices, which includes bankruptcy court.

On Friday the Wall Street Journal reported Chysler LLC's lenders are resisting efforts to convert most of the automaker's debt to equity, a conversion key to Chrysler's plan to restructure without filing for bankruptcy protection, according to published reports.

Banks including JPMorgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs, Citigroup Inc. and Morgan Stanley loaned Chrysler $6.8 billion in 2007 when Crberus Capital Management LP acquired 80% of the automaker

Now, Chrysler needs to swap $5 billion of that debt for equity in the automaker, as part of the plan for the company to become viable.

The banks' reluctance is slowing Chrysler's efforts to reach a definitive deal on an alliance with Fiat Group SpA, and also stalling the company's attempt to reach a health care agreement with the United Auto Workers union, the Journal reported.

A Citigroup spokeswoman declined to comment to The Associated Press. Messages seeking comment were left for the other banks. It is clear the debt has no interest in converting to equity when the equity is on the hook for billions in unfunded liabilities that makes a trip to the bankruptcy court all but guaranteed at sometime in the future, unless the entire company is turned over to the Federal Government for trusteeship of the unfunding liabilities, which is not out of the range of possibilites after what the Obama Administration has shown to be its proclivity toward bailingout big banks and private equity at 100 cents on the dollar invested rather than let the markets and bankruptcy court do its work.

Chrysler released a statement saying it "is committed to working closely with all constituents, the administration, U.S. Treasury and the (government's auto) task force over the next 30 days to reach a successful conclusion." The company declined further comment.

Treasury officials couldn't be reached for comment.

Because the banks hold debt secured by collateral, they have the right to take Chrysler plants and assets if the company files for bankruptcy protection. That means the banks may be better off with what's left of Chrysler in liquidation than what they'd get if they agree to restructure the debt.

The government has little leverage to force the banks to make concessions if they believe they'll be better off in bankruptcy court. But the banks that are pushing back against Chrysler and the government are also the direct recipients of government aid through the banks' own bailouts.

Chrysler also owes money to Cerberus and Daimler AG, but they already have agreed to exchange all that debt for Chrysler equity. Other lenders also appear willing to make concessions, but JPMorgan is leading the negotiations with Treasury, the Journal reported.

It is easy to figure out why Fiat wants its 35% in exchange for green-car technology know-how. The company has said it wants a production base in North America to build its Alfa Romeo, and probably Fiat cars, although most likely wrapped in Chysler's skin and brand. A quarter-century ago, Fiat quit selling the Fiat brand in the United States; today it sells just a few thousand Ferrari and Maserati cars in America.

Fiat is presented with a huge opportunity to reenter the United States market and benefit from the US government's and taxpayer's current largess, but obviously Fiat cannot buy Chrysler or take on its tremendous unfunded liabilities in its pensions due not only labor but previous management. Fiat does not want to tie itself to titantic Chrysler. The company said it "intends to make absolutely clear that the proposed alliance will not entail the assumption of any current or future indebtedness to Chrysler."

Fiat CEO Sergio Marchione has said that in order to survive, a car-maker needs to sell between 5.5 to 6 million units per year. But Fiat and Chrysler are still well below this level by more than 2 million units. It is not out of question that in 5 or 6 years, maybe a decade, car sales do takeoff and this partnership may sell 8+ million units in the United States, and then the two partners and the private equity would be rolling in the money.

Will Fiat CEO Marchionne Rescue Chysler?

Will Fiat CEO Marchionne Rescue Chysler?

The associated press reports that the Obama administration's auto industry task force met Thursday with representatives of General Motors' bondholders and the chief executive of Fiat Group SpA, who said the Italian automaker could revive the fortunes of Chysler LLC.

The panel held lengthy meetings with executives and lawyers for two important parts of the proposed turnaround plans for GM Corp. and Chrysler. Those companies are surviving on $17.4 billion in government loans and seeking billions more to stay afloat.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the team had been meeting "round the clock to come up with a solution to this crisis."

"There's no doubt that all the stakeholders involved are going to have to give in order to ensure that that restructuring takes place," Gibbs said.

Advisers to GM bondholders met with Steve Rattner and Ron Bloom, top aides to Treasury Secretary Geithner, and other members of the panel for two hours. GM is negotiating with its bondholders to cut two-thirds of its $27 billion in unsecured debt under the terms of the loan agreement with the government.

The advisers to the bondholders declined comment. They were expected to outline several options to reduce the Detroit automaker's unsecured debt and discuss whether the government would guarantee new bonds that GM would issue as part of its restructuring.

Earlier, Fiat's chief executive, Sergio Marchionne, said the task force was receptive to a proposed partnership that would give Fiat a 35 percent stake in Chrysler in exchange for new technology, but no cash.

"We can add value," Marchione said. "That's the real issue and it's a necessary ingredient of the revival of Chrysler."

Hurt by a steep decline in auto sales and past poor decisions, General Motors and Chrysler have requested an additional $21.6 billion to help them restructure. The government is trying to revamp the companies by March 31, but could call back the loans if the automakers fail to win concessions from stakeholders.

Adding to the concerns, GM's auditors said Thursday in a report there was "substantial doubt" that GM could stay in business.

Members of the task force are scheduled to meet with GM and Chrysler executives in the Detroit area on Monday and tour their facilities, said two officials familiar with the plans. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the plans publicly.

Chrysler contends the alliance with Fiat would help both companies. Fiat could give Chrysler a broad array of fuel-efficient small and mid-size cars, something the Auburn Hills, Mich.-based company lacks, and provide Chrysler with access to foreign markets.

Fiat's Marchionne has sought a U.S. partner to bring Fiat's successful update of the 500 subcompact and its sporty Alfa Romeo brand to the United States. He said the panel "wanted to know what the industrial alliance will look like and what it will look like after we're finished."

"I think they were intelligently critical of all things that were relevant, and rightly so. They're looking at taxpayers' funding," he said. "They recognize the magnitude of the problem and there is an absolute determination to find a solution."

Some members of Congress have questioned whether the government should save a company with a significant foreign stake in a major U.S. automaker. Marchionne said "nothing is going to be taken out of the U.S. and the main objective is to repay every single dollar of taxpayer funding before anyone gets anything."

After the jump WebVisionItaly-produced Fiat TV commerical. So Fiat if you need creative efficient ways to break into the United States market give WebVisionItaly a call. Or go to the big three advertising agencies who successfully broke the U.S. car companies. We'll be watching Fiat for its choice in creative direction in the U.S. market.