4.2China's FAW bids for Italian coachbuilder Bertone

China's FAW bids for Italian coachbuilder Bertone 

 

http://www.gasgoo.com/auto-news/6039/China-s-FAW-bids-for-Italian-coachbuild
er-Bertone.html

 

Shanghai, April 2 (Gasgoo.com) Chinese auto maker FAW Group is now bidding
to buy struggling Italian contract manufacturer Carrozzeria Bertone just a
few weeks after India Mahindra & Mahindra expressed their interest in the
coachbuilder, foreign media Automotive News Europe reported. 

 

FAW apparently wishes to use this acquisition as a strategy of entry to the
European market. At present, the company does not sell vehicles in western
or central Europe, although it does limited business in Russia. Bertone is
reported to have the capacity to build up to 100,000 units per year on a
three-shift basis.

 

A deal with Fiat for production of several Lancia models fell through in
April 2007, which led Bertone to seek bankruptcy protection in December. Now
under administration, the firm is being shopped to new owners who it is
hoped can turn the company around.

 

Automotive News Europe quotes Italian media reports as naming the other
bidders for Bertone as Italy's DR Motor, the PLC Group (a German engineering
company controlled by Arkk of Japan), Italian design and engineering house
Italdesign-Giugiaro and an unspecified Indian vehicle manufacturer thought
to be Mahindra & Mahindra.

 

In another move, FAW also expressed interest in the privatization of
Serbia's car manufacturer Zastava and truck and bus producer Fabrika
Autobusa Priboj (FAP), in the middle of March. Zastava is 99.99% owned by
the Serbian government.

 

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