It's official: FIAT (Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino), the Italian car manufacturing plant created by Giovanni Agnelli with other investors in 1899, no longer exists.
On Friday, a meeting to formally approve the merger of Fiat with American automaker Chrysler put an end to the historical Italian company amid concerns about the actual non-Italian base of the new entity, with a registered office in the Netherlands and tax base in the United Kingdom.
At the meeting, Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne said that Fiat's administrative offices and jobs will stay in Italy and reassured Italian shareholders that the new FCA (Fiat Chrysler Automobiles) will not turn its back on the country where the company was founded 115 years ago, maintaining its social and historic commitments to Italy.
The formal approval of the merger will allow Marchionne to have FCA listed on the New York Stock Exchange in the fall, to widen its ability to raise money.
Fiat's built their five-story iconic Lingotto plant in 1915 through 1918; at the time, it was Europe's largest car manufacturing plant.
