Frankfurt Auto Show Update: GM says Fiat JV Ahead of Plan

CLICK4 Frankfurt Auto Show

FRANKFURT, Sept 8, 2003; Reuters reports that the head of General Motors Corp. said on Monday its joint ventures with Fiat were running better than expected and the two companies were looking for other areas to cooperate.

GM Chairman Rick Wagoner said the savings from the joint ventures with Fiat were "running well in excess of our initial forecasts," even though both GM and Fiat are selling fewer vehicles using parts from the ventures than they had planned.

Wagoner declined to give a specific figure for savings but said it was running in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

He said Fiat and GM would continue to explore other areas where they could cooperate such as sharing "platforms" or the basic group of parts needed for building a range of cars.

Wagoner said there were few areas where GM and Fiat would cooperate in sales and marketing and said plans to sell Fiat's Alfa Romeo brand in the United States were "on the back burner".

He said GM had held its quarterly meeting with Fiat.