AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -
Fiat now owns a quarter of Chrysler Group’s shares thanks to the automaker reaching the first performance-related metric in a series of three milestones detailed in Chrysler’s Operating Agreement, each of which automatically adds 5 percentage points to the stake owned by Fiat.
Apparently, the government gave Chrysler the green light to start building the Fully Integrated Robotized Engine for commercial use. It will be built at the automaker’s Dundee, Mich., plant. This is one of the key milestones that had to be reached for a stake increase.
Since this milestone has been met, Fiat’s share in the automaker moves from 20 percent to 25 percent.
The ownership makeup at Chrysler is now:
—UAW VEBA: 63.5 percent             
—Fiat: 25 percent                
—U.S. Treasury: 9.2 percent           
—Canadian Governments: 2.3 percent      
If and when the second milestone — which deals with bolstering revenue and sales outside of NAFTA countries — is met, Fiat’s share goes up to 30 percent.
Achieving the third metric — which deals with utilizing Fiat platform technology to build a 40 mile per gallon vehicle for commercial — allows Fiat’s share to climb to 35 percent.
Sharing a bit more about the technology involved in the first milestone, the Fiat 500 will be the first model in North America to tap into this 1.4-liter FIRE engine with MultiAir Technology. The vehicle is set for delivery to Chrysler’s Fiat dealer body, which should occur soon, according to the automaker.