• The Detroit News, Tuesday, July 26, 2011 10 AM

There's a vine that grows in Costa Rica that climbs a tree, embraces it, and surrounds it until nothing is left but the vine itself. While Fiat SpA, with owns 53.5% of Chrysler has certainly created a latticework of support for the Detroit automaker, it isn't going to metabolize it, though the relationship is evolving. Just how that is happening and where it's going will likely be revealed by the CEO of both companies, Sergio Marchionne, this week.

He will explain the framework of the company the two automakers are creating as he announces a new, integrated management. Fiat has already begun to consolidate the U.S. automaker's earnings results in its financial statements, although the companies are issuing separate second-quarter reports today.

A full merger is not expected until next year, per a source, but the two carmakers are expected to start operating as one under their new management structure. Chrysler has vastly improved vehicle quality since brining in Fiat's World-Class Manufacturing System, including at its Toledo manufacturing complex. "The Toledo facility has changed almost overnight," said Jay Baron, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor. "They've done an incredible job merging these two cultures."

Read the whole story at The Detroit News »