Fiat says it sits on a 22.7 billion euro cash pile. CONSOB, the Italian equivalent of the SEC, told Fiat to explain “size and purpose” of its cash position, says Il Messagero in Rome. Fiat says it is not aware of an alleged probe, and that any suggestion that its cash pile was lower than reported in its statements was false, and will be dealt with. Read More >

Fiat/Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne casts longing eyes at GM’s palsied German daughter Opel, still, or again. Fiat was interested in taking Opel off GM’s trembling hands in 2009. Fiat is ready again, says the Italian business daily Il Sole 24 Ore, if Fiat gets a similar deal as with Chrysler: Opel for nothing, preferably with a cash sweetener. Read More >

In a sit-down with Italy’s Prime Minister Mario Monti , Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne and chairman John Elkann came to a belated conclusion: A slump in Europe is not such a bad thing of you can sell you cars elsewhere. After the sit-down, Fiat told Reuters that it wants to “re-orient” its business model in Italy “to focus on exports, particularly outside of Europe.” This, the person familiar with the situation said, can mean only one thing: Get ready for made-in-Italy Jeeps and Imported from Torino Chryslers. Read More >

Always good for a surprise, Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne made an unusual announcement. Not only did he tell everybody that Fiat will receive government financing and tax breaks from Brazil, he also said when he received similar help from Italy: A ver long time ago. Read More >

Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne vowed he will not close any of Fiat’s six Italian factories, Reuters reports. Actually, he says, he is a victim of circumstance: Read More >

Turns out that Fiat wasn’t affected too bad by Serbia’s sudden cash crunch. As reported yesterday, the country is having a hard time coming up €90 million it owes Fiat towards a jointly owned car plant in Kragujevac. Fiat has a richer sugar daddy, and he lives in Brussels.  The European Investment Bank sees no reason not to continue disbursing its 500 million euro ($625 million) loan to Fiat, Reuters says. The loan is earmarked for the same plant. Read More >

Fiat saved Chrysler. Now, Chrysler keeps Fiat alive. Fiat would be in deep trouble, would it not be for the huge profits generated at Chrysler.  Fiat’s future is so cloudy that it can’t give guidance for the near future.  Yesterday, Fiat reported a second quarter trading profit of 1 billion euros ($1.23 billion), “bolstered by soaring sales at its U.S. unit Chrysler,” says Reuters.  Today,  Fiat says it has no clue where it will stand by the end of the year. Read More >

We decided to take a family vacation this summer in Italy, starting in Florence and driving into rural Tuscany to spend a mellow week in a rental villa near some friends. I reserved a “Ford Focus or equivalent” with Hertz and, after a thoroughly unpleasant hour in the queue (“not exactly” indeed), they handed me the keys to an Alfa Romeo Giulietta with a manual transmission, two liter turbo diesel. Forza Italia! I now had one week with the sort of car that American TTAC readers often like to grouse about their inability to buy at home.

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Fiat & Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne’s pointed remarks have attracted the ire of Europe’s 500 pound gorilla Volkswagen. VW demanded that Marchionne steps down as president of the European auto manufacturers association ACEA. If he won’t resign, Volkswagen could resign its ACEA membership – which would send the club into instant irrelevancy, not to mention insolvency. Read More >

We never thought much of De Tomaso’s resurrection. Italian police agrees, thinks De Tomaso’s saviours might be crooks and arrested De Tomaso’s chairman Gian Mario Rossignolo, along with two other men on suspicions of that 7.5 million euros ($9.2 million) of public funds were misused in a failed turnaround plan, Reuters says. Read More >

Sergio Pininfarina died overnight in his Turin home at the age of 85. The company that bears its name designed almost every Ferrari since the 1950s and delivered the shapes of cars from the 1963 Chevrolet Corvette Rondine to the 1996 Peugeot 406 Coupe. Sajeev will have a tribute to the man later on.

Italy’s Fiat, late to the Chinese party, finally opened its first plant in China today. Reuters reports that “the plant, based in Hunan province, is the latest development in a 5 billion yuan ($786.73 million) joint-venture between Fiat and GAC, China’s sixth largest auto manufacturer.” The plant also should help improving China’s dismal car export statistics. Read More >

Italy has some of Europe’s highest gasoline prices, with the liter going for approximately €1.83. This translates, hold on to your wallet, to $8.54 for the gallon. Italy is also the country of steep sales drops. The Italian new car market contracted by 18 percent last April.  Fiat is Italy’s biggest carmaker and sustains even bigger losses.

Where others see a disaster, Fiat sees an opportunity. It wants to ignite flagging sales with cheap gas. Read More >

And now for the Italian section of our collection of tasteful tie-up art. Mazda and Fiat not quite tied the knot, but they became engaged. Mazda and Fiat signed “a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the development and manufacturing of a new roadster for the Mazda and Alfa Romeo marques based on Mazda’s next-generation MX-5 rear-wheel-drive architecture,” Mazda says in a statement. Read More >

It would be a great announcement to start the Beijing Auto Show, opening to the media in the world’s largest car market on April 23. Audi has its eyes on another date in the calendar: On April 18, a day before VW’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Hamburg, Audi should announce the purchase of Italy’s motorcycle maker Ducati, sources tell Reuters.

The story has been around for a while, but a due diligence check takes time. Audi’s auditors did not find any hidden skeletons, reports the wire service. Other papers, such as the Corriere de la Sera, and Germany’s Handelsblatt agree.

Ducati would round out Volkswagen’s brand portfolio nicely. It would have everything from heavy trucks, even ship engines, to screaming superbikes. It also would flip the bird at Audi’s Bavarian rival BMW.