FCA Withdraws From Renault Merger Proposal:

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) will not be merging with Renault. The news broke late-Wednesday, that FCA has withdrawn their proposal for a merger with Groupe Renault. The Wall Street Journal first announced the news with FCA releasing this press release shortly after:

The Board of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (“FCA”) meeting this evening under the Chairmanship of John Elkann, has resolved to withdraw with immediate effect its merger proposal made to Groupe Renault.

FCA remains firmly convinced of the compelling, transformational rationale of a proposal that has been widely appreciated since it was submitted, the structure and terms of which were carefully balanced to deliver substantial benefits to all parties. However it has become clear that the political conditions in France do not currently exist for such a combination to proceed successfully.

FCA expresses its sincere thanks to Groupe Renault, in particular to its Chairman and its Chief Executive Officer, and also to the Alliance partners at Nissan Motor Company and Mitsubishi Motors Corporation, for their constructive engagement on all aspects of FCA’s proposal.

FCA will continue to deliver on its commitments through the implementation of its independent strategy. – Fiat Chrysler Automobiles

There were also rumors that Nissan, Renault’s Japanese partner, did not support the deal. According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, Nissan representatives that currently hold positions on the Renault board were prepared to vote against the merger while the rest of the board was in favor of the deal. Nissan’s stance on the matter has created doubts about its willingness to preserve an alliance if the merger had moved forward.

Groupe Renault released the following statement to the media, soon after the announcement of the withdraw…

The Board of Directors was unable to take a decision due to the request expressed by the representatives of the French State to postpone the vote to a later Council. – Groupe Renault

While the proposed merger would have resulted in creating the third-largest automaker in the world, behind Volkswagen and Toyota, it also left Mopar fans worried about what would happen to the core Mopar brands. A lot of the core Mopar fan base still has a lot of negativity to any kind of merger, due to the “merger of equals” with Daimler-Benz in 1998, that left the Chrysler Group on life support after the Mercedes end of the merger, siphoned all of the surplus cash from Chrysler Group which lead to Fiat role into the creation of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles after saving the company from dissolving.  

It appears for now, that FCA will continue on their independent strategy. The company continues to seek a partner in which it can help reduce costs of platform sharing, combined vehicle technologies, engineering, and manufacturing as the auto industry continues to shift.