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Fact or Fiction: FCA in talks to (re)acquire AM General

Muther

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The latest web rumors are that FCA is in in talks to buy AM General (either in whole or in part).

I have not heard about this here, or at Allpar, so I am dismissing it.

Are there truth to these rumors. No news source I have read has any sources sighted, therefore, it is still just a rumor.
 

cgseller

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AM General existed due to the (original) foreign investment from Renault, which would still be an issue for the US defense contracts. Next rumors will be that the incorporation will move from the UK to the US to address that issue? <sic>

(updated to clarify original intent)
 
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KrisW

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First off, Renault doesn't own any of AM General anymore, and second, the rule about foreign government ownership of defense contractors is no longer as blunt as it was. (The problem back in 1982 wasn't that Renault had bought AM, but that the French Government had a voting stake in Renault)

AM General is currently US-owned, but even if its ownership passed to FCA, a UK/Netherlands corporation, there wouldn't be a problem with U.S. military contracts, because the rules are more sensible these days.

As an example, the US Army's new UH-72 Lakota helicopter that will eventually replace the iconic UH-1 "Huey" in most roles, is supplied by a French company, Airbus Helicopters (formerly Eurocopter), but the helicopters themselves are delivered, from scratch, by American Eurocopter, Inc, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Airbus, incorporated in the USA and operating out of Columbus, MS. Allowing friendly-nation bidders gave the Army a better choice of options, and requiring US manufacture of the winning bidder gives the US Army the only thing they needed from the old "American only" rule, which was control over the source of their materiel.
 

Muther

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From an engineering standpoint, having AM General back would be great. It would be a real bonus, especially for Jeep, and Ram Commercial.

Right now I classify this as strictly a rumor, put out by somebody with interests in pushing the sale price up for AM General. My sources have nothing, zero, zip, nada on this. And I have folks that deal with both FCA and AMG.
 

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