• Detroit Free Press, Monday, March 16, 2009 10:45 AM

Filing from Fiat SpA's home city of Turin, Italy, Freep auto critic Mark Phelan says that "it's hard to find anyone with a bad word to say" about the automaker's proposed alliance with Chrysler. That's a lot different from the attitude of German executives at Daimler-Benz, who erected barriers between the two companies lest the Mercedes name be tarnished by association with Chrysler's down-market vans and trucks.

By contrast, analysts, Fiat's unions and a small sample of Italians on Turin's streets see the deal as a way for Fiat to grow at minimal risk or cost, Phaeln writes. "Chrysler and Fiat together are surely better than Fiat alone," says Giorgio Airaudo, secretary of the largest of the unions representing Fiat's Italian workers. "Nobody in Italy is worried about this."

The deal would give Fiat 35% of Chrysler in exchange for engine and transmission technology and vehicle platforms. Chrysler's North American factories and dealers would build and sell up to 600,000 Fiat-based small cars and crossovers annually. Fiat could later buy an additional 20% of Chrysler, giving it control of the automaker.

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