Merger or No Merger: Fiat Chrysler Automotive and General Motors Throughout the automobile era, there has not been a huge change or upheaval in the hierarchy of the automotive industry. There has been a steady and reliable collection of companies from numerous countries that have remained active since their inception. Only a handful of small manufacturers have come and gone in more than a century of the automotive industry. On the other hand, in the last twenty years alone, an American manufacturer has merged twice with foreign companies, one of which proved unsuccessful. This company is Chrysler, which includes the brands Chrysler, Dodge, Ram, SRT (a performance division for the other brands), and Jeep. The first partnership, with the German Daimler-Benz, lasted about a decade and in the long run proved unsuccessful, since for all unsuccessful business ventures the problem was the lack of profit. The second merger, with Fiat Automotive of Italy, initiated in 2008 and finalized in 2014, proved to be largely advantageous for both parties. Although the FCA (Fiat Chrysler Automobiles) merger was successful for both parties, all of their vehicles are last in terms of sales compared to their counterparts from other companies. Unfortunately, FCA is trying to merge again, this time with another American manufacturer, General Motors. This idea has been discussed for the past six months as FCA repeatedly attempted to merge with GM. This merger would leave Ford as the only American manufacturer left standing from the "Big 3", namely Ford, GM and Chrysler. This in turn means that Ford will also eventually merge with the FCA-GM company, leaving one giant American supermanufacturer. If Ford chooses not to merge with FCA and GM, it could lead to the disappearance of the Ford name for the first time since Ford began producing automobiles in 1908 (History). For this reason, it is inevitable that Ford will merge with FCA and GM, assuming the merger between FCA and GM occurs. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay To preface this topic, my father worked in the auto finance industry his entire career. Because of this I have been immersed in car culture my entire life, my brother, my father and I often talk about cars for hours on end. Additionally, my father worked for two of the three major American automakers, Ford first and Chrysler most recently. As a result, I have a deeper insight into the workings of Chrysler and Ford than the average automotive enthusiast my age. Over the past decade my father, brother, and I have discussed Chrysler's plans and actions regarding their vehicles and their ownership or partnership many times. While I believe useful information could have been gained from talking to my father about this topic, I did not discuss this idea with him during the development of this article. While my father's information would have been helpful, I also believe his information would be biased in favor of Chrysler due to his experience with the company. Currently, my father works for Wells Fargo Dealer Services which deals with all the brands marketed in America and has the most accurate information on the breadth of the American automotive industry. The partnership between FCA and GM could potentially be very successful. FCA is already the combination of five brands, previously six with the breakup of Ferrari for stock reasons. Fiat Chrysler Automotive could become even more powerful by adding four more brands. If this merger occurred, the brands included would be: Fiat, Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, Ram, Buick,Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC. Two of the three American manufacturers would join forces and discover technological advances unimaginable by current automotive standards. By uniting two huge entities, the ideas and technologies of each could be combined to advance the technology currently available in the automotive market. These advances are not possible without a merger between two large companies because the enormous amount of money, manpower, and research and development is not feasible with a single company. Finally, a merger would be mutually beneficial for all parties involved because sales would not be taken from one brand or another, revenues would be shared so that any sale benefits all parties. Creating an even larger and more powerful American automaker would be beneficial not only to the American auto industry, but also to the American economy as a whole. Although a partnership between GM and FCA would leave Ford alone as the only major American automotive brand (Tesla is not yet a major brand), it is possible that Ford will collaborate with the FCA/GM group in the future. The potential FCA and GM group would rival the massive automotive conglomerates of Europe and Asia. There are two large groups that control the majority of brands on their continent, Volkswagen in Europe and Toyota in Asia. Brands owned by Volkswagen Auto Group include: Volkswagen, Audi, Bentley, Lamborghini, Porsche, Seat, Skoda and a couple of other small commercial vehicle companies. In contrast, Toyota is solely owned by: Toyota, Hino, Lexus, Ranz, and Scion (although Scion was dissolved into the Toyota brand about a month ago). Essentially, there are 14 companies that control all vehicle sales worldwide (Murrell). In other words, the FCA and GM group would be one of the most powerful car companies in the world, if not the most powerful overall. After the merger, the FCA and GM group would own a total of 15 brands sold in the United States, 24 adding the brands not marketed in the United States. With this partnership, FCA/GM would own more brands than Volkswagen Auto Group, creating the potential for greater economic impact than any other company. Having a major American automaker again would benefit the American economy by bringing more money into the country than money going to a foreign automaker. There hasn't been an American manufacturer with this much potential since Ford's early years in the 20th century, before foreign cars began to be imported. This partnership would put FCA/GM on the same level as the first Ford, once again making America a force to be reckoned with in the automotive industry. The automotive industry is one of America's major exports, with American-made vehicles driving on roads around the world. Creating more revenue for one of America's major exports would therefore create more wealth for the country as a whole, benefiting all aspects of life. While it may not seem like the auto industry has a significant impact on everyday life, without American-made cars the country would not be where it is today. Furthermore, a modern country without an effective and individual means of transportation cannot progress at pace with other countries in today's modern and fast-paced world. All over the world, there are groups of people who remain loyal exclusively to one brand or conglomerate. of brands such as GM or Volkswagen. These brand loyalists could prove to be a problem for an FCA-GM merger because these people might not like the idea of ​​a rival company working on their coveted vehicles. In America, for example, the traditional “midlife crisis car” is theChevrolet Corvette; Generally, when a man or woman reaches the demographic age of 40-60, they feel the need to purchase a sports car. The Chevrolet Corvette is the iconic American sports car, the name Corvette is synonymous with America. According to autoblog.com, the Toyota Corolla is the best-selling car in history, the rest of the list includes in ascending order: Ford F-Series, Volkswagen Golf, Volkswagen Beetle, Ford Escort, Honda Civic, Honda Accord, Ford Model - T, Volkswagen Passat and Chevrolet Impala (autoblog.com). To extrapolate, the Toyota Corolla is the best-selling car in automotive history and one could say that the Corolla is synonymous with the country of Japan. Although the Corolla and Corvette are two very different categories of cars, a subcompact or compact car and a sports car respectively, the two are still associated with their respective countries in a comparable way. In the autoblog.com top 10 there were four cars from American manufacturers, two Ford and two GM. Instead, there are four cars from potential rivals of the FCA group and GM, Toyota and Volkswagen, one from Toyota and three from Volkswagen. While there are no vehicles from FCA, having two from GM would make up for the new group's lack of all-time sales. With this partnership, there is a possibility that FCA will enter the list of top 10 vehicles sold, or that GM will add one or more vehicles to this list. Even if all-time sales aren't the most important at the moment, all-time sales allow for bragging rights and a greater reputation as a company. You could use all-time sales to gauge the overall success of an automaker, but current success is almost as important as success over time. Consumers have short memories and prefer to follow the status quo when purchasing a new car, rather than risk purchasing a car without a high estimate (like Tesla's early adopters). This reluctance to overreach would be beneficial to FCA/GM because they would gain brand loyalists from all brands rather than from their separate brands. This addition of brand loyalists would create an even larger revenue stream and provide the opportunity for many advancements and changes in the automotive landscape. A merger between two previously successful companies makes business sense. The success of the two companies can be combined and refined to produce even greater success for this new company. This partnership would differ from the merger between Daimler-Benz and Chrysler in that it is the merger of two already successful companies, as opposed to the merger of a successful company and a less successful company. Since this merger is already under discussion, there is a lot of information and sources on this topic. In a Motor Trend article, the author discusses the possibility of a merger between FCA and GM, and his view was not as positive as mine. Indeed, author Angus MacKenzie takes a very negative tone and view on this idea, postulating: “This is reckless, freewheeling American capitalism at its best, and there's a lot of money to be made by the bankers, the lawyers and shareholders who are in on the deal. There is only one small problem: the merger would be a disaster for GM (MacKenzie 1). MacKenzie uses words like cloak and dagger, disaster and freedom of movement, but does not support his claims with evidence. It is clear that this author has a bias against GM and would not want this merger to happen. MacKenzie goes on to say that GM doesn't need FCA because FCA products don't sell as well as their U.S. counterparts and GM already has an extremely diverse product line. It is this author's opinion that GM should not merge with FCA because it would not be beneficial to GM, but.