Re: CNH/AGCO
Oops, my bad. I thought you were talking about CLAAS there for a minute.
In all seriousness with respect to the CNH/AGCO talks, there has been a lot of speculation from day one of the CNH formation that it wouldn't be permanent. Fiat is first and foremost a car company; that is their passion and they want to be THE big player in the world in automobiles - that has always been their motivation. They didn't have a burning passion to be in the farm and construction equipment industry, but what they did see was a way to structure an organization that could enlarge their total footprint, bring in more cash, and put them in a better position to, at a point in the future, make a big move into the auto industry (especially North America). Fast forward to today, and you have the opportunity presenting itself with Chrysler. Just the type of thing Fiat had been waiting for. Now, it will be interesting to see what Fiat does with CNH. If getting the Chrysler thing off the ground like they want to means cutting into the budgets of the CNH division (or more extreme, selling off part or all of it to a capable and willing buyer like AGCO), I have no doubt that Fiat is prepared to do so. One need only look back at other farm equipment companies in history that have been owned by larger parent organizations to see that it has happened before and can certainly happen again.
