Autoblog

Click above to view more images of the Tata Nano

Fiat and Tata already have a joint venture to distribute commercial vehicles. If they can do the big stuff, why not the little stuff? Tata and Fiat are looking at an agreement to sell the Tata Nano outside of India in markets where Fiat has a strong presence.

If the deal goes through, and once the car is upgraded to meet Western standards, Tata can take advantage of the Fiat name, marketing, and dealer network. Fiat would probably have a big seller on its hands -- and a slice of every one -- since the car is still expected to maintain a healthy price advantage even after it gets beefed up.

The Tata, however, is not expected to come to the U.S. as a Fiat. Ratan Tata said, ""We have held talks about the Nano being marketed in markets where Fiat has already a strong presence." Frankly, America isn't one of those places yet. With Tata making such a big splash over here with Jaguar, they probably wouldn't need Fiat to help the brand. Still, the thought of a Fiat 500 and a Nano snuggling in the corner of a dealership would be too cute to miss. Thanks for the tip, Yash!

[Source: Economic Times via The Earth Times]

Fiat and Nanjing may have divorced their marriage on passenger cars, but that shouldn't affect their offspring. Following Fiat's withdrawal from its joint venture with the Chinese automaker, production of three current Fiat models at the Nanjing plant is expected to continue.

With demand for the Sino-Italian cars slowly dwindling, Nanjing Fiat Auto was expected to continue production in the short term only to satisfy orders placed, and the manufacturing of spare parts to support the service of the cars already sold will also continue for years to come. However, recent reports indicate that as part of its divorce with Fiat, Nanjing acquired the rights to continue building the Palio Weekend wagon, Siena sedan and Perla (a larger sedan having been developed in China and based on the Siena platform) under a different badge. Component suppliers in China report that they have received no cancellation on shipments to the assembly plant, so they're expecting to continue on with business as usual.

[Source: Automotive News Europe (sub. req'd) via Italiaspeed]

Hot on the heels of Nanjing Auto's merger with SAIC, Fiat has announced it has pulled out of the automotive joint venture it had embarked upon with Nanjing.

The Sino-Italian operation had been a money-losing enterprise for years. Fiat says that Nanjing failed to live up to its commitments to the joint venture after the Chinese auto group took over MG Rover, and that the divorce will enable the Italian automaker to re-strategize its business in China. Fiat is expected to partner instead with Chery Automobiles, which just announced another joint venture with Israel Corp. Fiat and Chery are in the process of setting up another joint venture to produce 175,000 cars annually starting in 2009, and leading to the introduction of Fiat Group division Alfa Romeo to the Chinese market.

The separation affects only the cooperation between Fiat and Nanjing on the production of passenger cars, and doesn't have any bearing on Fiat's truck-building division, Iveco, which cooperates with Nanjing to build vans and with Nanjing's new parent company SAIC on trucks, the two relationships will continue unhindered.

[Source: Automotive News - Sub. Req.]

Apparently the partnership between Suzuki and Nissan is one that both sides like. So much so that they are already discussing additional future collaborations. We have already reported about the Suzuki-built, Nissan-badged Moco minicar, the Nissan-built, Suzuki-badged Jimny from Thailand, and then the sharing of another minicar for Europe in exchange for Suzuki getting a Nissan minivan to fill capacity at its Indian factory.

According to this new Forbes item, Nissan Motor Co. and Suzuki Motor Corp are now considering joint production to expand their ties in emerging markets. Russia and Brazil, in particular, were reported production sites.

Back in June the two firms decided to jointly build vehicles for the domestic market, while Suzuki would produce small vehicles in India for Nissan starting in 2008. The newest proposition has Nissan Co. producing Suzuki-badged vehicles at a new Nissan plant in St Petersburg, Russia. That plant won't start up until 2009, but with its annual capacity of 50,000 units, it could handle at least three midsize models.

Suzuki already sends SUVs from Japan and builds small cars at its plant in Hungary for export to Russia. They pulled out of the Brazilian market in 2003, however. Nissan, on the other hand, has been assembling vehicles in Brazil since 2001, including pickup trucks and SUVs.

[Source: Forbes]

Related Posts:

• Nissan and Suzuki expand collaboration
• Nissan, Suzuki to trade cars and trucks
• Nissan goes after emerging markets

General Motors and Isuzu Motors Ltd. will get together for another joint venture to start developing new pickups together for emerging markets.  The JV, called LCV Platform Engineering Corp., has worked together successfully before on pickup development and production, and despite GM having sold off much of its Japanese investments (Isuzu, Suzuki, Subaru, etc.), the company says the work it has done with Isuzu to develop and produce pickups should continue due to its success in the past.

LCV Platform Engineering Corp. is a 50-50 joint venture between General Motors and Isuzu based in Fujisawa, Japan. The arrangement and accompanying facilities should be ready to go in September of this year.

[Source: Associated Press via the Detroit Free Press]

Color us confused. General Motors recently divested itself of the vast majority of its Suzuki stock, and the two have been severing ties left and right, including official word on Chevrolet of Japan's fortunes in Suzuki's network earlier today. But in contrarian fashion, Japanese newspaper Nihon Keizai Shimbun is reporting that the two automakers are planning on jointly developing hybrid vehicles with an eye toward North America in 2009.

The vehicles are said to be in the SUV mold (crossovers?) with engines in the three-liter size range.

Is this a credible rumor? As we said, it strikes us as more than a bit odd given recent events, but it might not be a bad shake for either manufacturer (and GM still holds a three percent stake in 'Zuki), so all bets are off.

[Sources: AFX News Limited via Forbes; AMotor.no]

According to Automotive News, Chrysler is considering striking a deal with Chinese automaker Chery to build a new small Dodge or Chrysler for the international market. A meeting between Chery President Yin Tongyao and Chrysler executives is rumored for Friday, May 5.

If Chery does end up assembling a mini-Chrysler product, U.S. car buyers won't see it. But Chrysler is talking to other companies, including Volkswagen, about building a U.S.-market small car. Whichever automaker gets the nod will have to provide a proven small car platform for Chrysler's design.

[Source: Automotive News - subscription required]

Just one month after going on sale in China, Mazda's joint-venture plant that produces the Mazda 3 has fallen silent. While the Chang'an Ford Motors Corp facility isn't  releasing the official reason for the cessation, analyst Hu Song of Haitong Securities Co. Ltd. believes the situation is the result of " believe it is the result of "a split on the production and sales channel between Chang'an Ford Motors Corp and FAW Mazda sales company during their consolidation of the Chinese market." Uh-huh. That's exactly what we figured, too.

There is no word or timetable on if or when production is set to resume.

[Sources: The Shanghai Daily; Mazda]

Iran is putting a crimp in Renault's plans. The French automaker had teamed up with the nation as part of a joint-venture to build the bare-bones Logan (L90), but now finds itself in a bind as authorities in Tehran have nixed the plan, apparently over a disagreement over the export futures of the car.

Renault has pledged to work with the Iranian government to resolve the problems, as some $800-million worth of contracts with local firms hang in the balance, but the future of the vehicle and the jobs involved in its creation are unclear.

In a time where Iran is under increasing pressure from the rest of the world to come clean about its nuclear efforts, this development threatens to further harm the controversial country's standing in global commerce circles.

[Sources: Motoring.co.za; Renault]