Macron and Salvini Have a Used Car to Sell You
The success of Fiat’s proposed tie-up with Renault will depend hugely on politics, regardless of the rare outbreak of Franco-Italian friendship.
Emmanuel Macron and Matteo Salvini finally have something to agree on: The giant merger of Renault and Fiat.
Photographer: ANDREAS SOLARO/AFPEmmanuel Macron has traded plenty of verbal blows with Matteo Salvini on subjects ranging from immigration and public spending to the future of the European Union. The europhile French president and the nationalist Italian deputy prime minister have finally found common ground, however: The car industry. Both have lent their enthusiastic support to a proposed tie-up between Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV and Renault SA.
The idea is that this deal – which my colleague Chris Bryant describes as born out of “desperation” – will increase the two companies’ scale and encourage more investment, crucially without hurting jobs. While this all does look very good on paper right now, there’s a real danger that the huge pressure on the auto industry that’s brought the French and the Italians together will only intensify over the next few years. That might make the political peace a short one. As we’ve seen with Renault’s own alliance with Nissan Motor Co Ltd., there’s plenty of scope for diplomatic ructions over cross-border carmakers.