The divestment is said to include a 2.5-percent stake in truck and agricultural equipment maker CNH Industrial, along with a 3.5-percent stake in its own Fiat shares.
The merged entity Fiat Chrysler Automobiles recently outlined an ambitious five-year plan, aiming to double Jeep sales by bringing the SUVs to six more countries. Focusing on the luxury segment, Maserati will attempt to transition to a semi-volume nameplate while Alfa Romeo is reinvented with eight new models.
“The Chrysler story is one investors have followed from the beginning. We were the poor kids, Cinderella at the ball,” CEO Sergio Marchionne said to reporters this week in England, as quoted by Bloomberg. “People in the U.S. actually like that. They like what happened. We paid all the money back and it was clean.”
Some investors and analysts are skeptical of the pitch, criticizing the automaker for embracing a nine-brand strategy rather than paring down the nameplates to focus on the strongest performers. Doubters argue that the company is unlikely to reach its growth goals, despite plans to invest 55 billion euros (~$75 billion USD) in the revitalization effort.
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