What Sergio Marchionne calls the Apple model

The Italian miracle will always be the shape of a pot of yogurt. In the 1960s, the "Cinquecento" allowed a whole generation of young alpine to emancipate people, and a country of spinning foot to the floor towards modernity. Today, it is still the small 500 which seems to leave the rut Fiat and allows it all bold. As buy Chrysler for example! Quite inflated to a company whose predicted the disappearance at regular intervals. In his fascinating essay on the slow decomposition of the Agnelli dynasty (1), owner of Fiat, our colleague Pierre de Gasquet tells the detail how, since the end of the 1990s, most of the leaders of the firm and Italian bankers to raise the question of the sale of the automaker to a foreign competitor. Too small, too Italian Fiat is since long condemned by all specialists, including the Agnelli clan.

03/12 - 04/12 Access WWE Tickets staging in Joe Louis Arena, Madison Square Garden. WWE is staging in Detroit, New York and Miami Beach. wwe tickets 2012

03/12 - 04/12 Capture Miami Heat Tickets playing in Madison Square Garden, Palace Of Auburn Hills. Miami Heat is playing in New York, Auburn Hills and Newark. miami heat tickets 2012

04/12 - 06/12 Procure New York Yankees Tickets playing in Citi Field, Comerica Park. New York Yankees is playing in Flushing, Detroit and Port Saint Lucie. new york yankees tickets 2012

Yet, with his cocktail at base of new products and robust restructuring, the current boss of the group, Sergio Marchionne, was able to revive and hope to the old lady of Turin. Worn by the upturn in the market, the Group makes profit since 2005. And even in this late 2008 catastrophic for the automotive world, Fiat is doing very honourably, thanks to the 500. Question what is the strength of such a return in the form is. Fiat debt left dangerously increased and profits are declining. Faithful to a certain Italian tradition of dramatization of affairs, Sergio Marchionne already wrote the scenario for the future of Fiat. In an amazing interview with the US Weekly "Automotive news" (2), provides that as a general constructor, Fiat has more no one future and that the crisis is flat all older models in the car.

His theory is that to be a profitable constructor in the future, it will have to produce almost 6 million vehicles per year, which currently only Volkswagen manages to do in Europe. "This is not just a question of numbers, he said." But volume, associated with each architecture. Fiat is not even half of this road. Also we need to bring together us. "His thesis, shared by his colleagues, even if they are more nuanced, is that the development of a platform cost became prohibitive and can return on huge volumes. "I want to help someone else to do architecture, and me suffice him dress (body colour, Interior)," strikes.

The world of the automobile did not, of course, wait Sergio Marchionne to implement platform-sharing. The Renault-Nissan alliance was already pursuing this objective, and Volkswagen made a decisive advantage. Already, vehicles of great size, as minivans and commercial vehicles are shared, between PSA and Fiat, or between VW and Ford. Novelty in its concept, is that it introduces the idea that this model will generalize to the range and that the crisis accelerates the phenomenon, requiring all those who are below the critical to organize mass. Where his alliance with Chrysler, where he took care not commit money, given the semi-comatose state of the American. Hence the more insistent rumors of negotiations with the French PSA, regular partner of Italian.

Why such a speech Because the crisis shows in effect the constitution of a kind of bubble car. Too much capacity, too many factories were built. With consumption likely to be permanently depressed and more sensitive to environmental constraints, the economic equation for the manufacture of a car is more. At the same time, consumer demand for more custom products. It therefore products production and fragment side sale. Hence the possible appearance of builders almost without a plant, which would simply make the design, marketing and sale. What Sergio Marchionne calls the "Apple model." The painful aspect of this schema, it is that it involves a drastic reduction in production capacity, so number of plant closures.

In leading the ball as early as the beginning of 2009, Sergio Marchionne attempts to take the advantage in paradoxically based on weaknesses. The Fiat group is one of the last in the world to have retained the look of a mechanical conglomerate, as were many of its competitors twenty years ago. The automobile represents only half of its turnover, the remainder is agricultural machinery and public works (Case, New Holland) and heavy goods vehicles (Iveco), which are both currently profitable cyclic activities, auto (Magneti Marelli) equipment, engines and machinery (Comau). And even in the car, he was careful to separate its General sector, with the Fiat, Alfa Romeo and Lancia brands, its nuggets of luxury, Ferrari and Maserati. Obviously the latter, which represent only 7 of the sales but 30 of operating income, are not affected by this great game.

Therefore, the Fiat group is more likely that others sacrifice its domestic auto on the altar of the modernization of the sector. As the failing of the Agnelli clan could promote such an operation. Another specificity of the group, its dominance on the very Brazilian market promising, it controls 25. An asset, including to speak with Americans (such as Chrysler), even if the crisis seriously slows sales in this promising country.

Last advantage on which Fiat can be leverage in negotiations, his specialty in small cars. Segments A and B represent over 60 of its sales. Long considered a tare, it is now an asset, taking into account a pollution control standards and the desire of consumers to focus on the small price on the other hand. This is the main argument that prevailed in the marriage with Chrysler. Fiat can be a global platform for the manufacture of cars. Finally, add last argument, a portfolio of brands keep their prestige, as Alfa Romeo, who will make his return to America next year.

Hailed the success of the beautiful 500, facing the abyss of the collapse of the market, Sergio Marchionne knows that he has little time to save the last Italian disaster constructor and is never as good a position as ' to make an asset of its weaknesses and its yoghurt pots of the promises of tomorrow singing.