The CEO of Italian carmaker Fiat confirmed in a newspaper interview published today his company's interest in forming an alliance with Opel, the German-based subsidiary of struggling US auto giant General Motors, dpa reported. "Now we have to concentrate on Opel. They are our perfect partner," Sergio Marchionne told the Turin-based Fiat-owned newspaper, La Stampa. Marchionne's remarks came a day after Fiat clinched an alliance with US carmaker Chrysler. On Thursday, Fiat closed a deal with Chrysler giving it an initial 20 per cent stake in the Detroit-based automaker, which filed for bankruptcy protection in the US. According to the publication Automotive News Europe a partnership of Fiat, Chrysler and parts of General Motors (GM) would create the world's second-largest auto group after Toyota Motor Corp. To date, labour unions representing Opel employees and some German politicians have spoken out against Fiat merging with Opel, citing possible job cuts and plant closures. On Tuesday Canadian-Austrian car parts supplier Magna presented the German government with an outline for an Opel bailout proposal. German Economics Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg said Magna had laid out an "initial interesting rough concept."
