Au Revoir, Renault
The Fiat Chrysler-Renault deal appears to have collapsed, causing stocks in both OEMs to drop.
According to reports, Fiat Chrysler executives abruptly cancelled the deal after French Government officials indicated they would be unwilling to see the French auto manufacturer be run out of Italy.
In late May, Fiat Chrysler proposed a merger deal to the French OEM Renault. Under the terms of the deal, the combined OEM would be worth $50 billion, making it the third largest automaker in the world after Volkswagen and Toyota. The company would also produce close to nine million vehicles per year.
While the budding romance between Renault and Fiat Chrysler may now be over before it began, the French auto maker’s wandering eye may have have irrepairably damaged its long-standing relationship with Nissan.
For the past two decades, Renault, which owns 43 percent of the Japanese OEM, has held a strategic alliance with Nissan. This cordial relationship hit a snag last week, when Renault announced it would attempt to use its near-majority shareholder status to prevent Nissan from overhauling its corporate governance structure.
Decline and Falter
Auto sales have declined in Canada for a fifteenth month in a row.
According to a report from DesRosiers Automotive Consultants , just 203,000 cars were sold last month, compared to 215,000 the year before.
This May, Canadians bought six percent fewer vehicles than in May 2018—and close to 10 percent fewer than in May 2017.
While no category of vehicles showed notable growth, passenger vehicles had a particularly rough month, with sales down by almost 20 percent compared to the previous year. Truck sales, on the other hand, saw only a small drop in sales last month.
Green and Pleasant Fix
Canadian franchise Fix Auto has added a 28th U.K. location into its growing global network.
While Fix Auto’s successful entrance into the South African, Turkish and Chinese markets have been widely covered in the trade press, its steady growth within the U.K. has received far less attention.
With more than 500 locations around the globe, Fix Auto locations can now be found in Australia, Southern Ireland, Turkey, the U.S., France, China, Germany, the U.K. and Canada.
While the franchise may be going global, the majority Fix Auto are in Canada—with 264 locations. It has 160 locations in the U.S.
