Jeep has potential to be marquee brand says Marchionne

'Incredibly proud' of Fiat-Chrysler merger says CEO

(ANSA) - New York, May 21 - With production volume predicted to triple by 2018, Jeep has the potential to be the most global brand in the arsenal of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), CEO Sergio Marchionne said Wednesday. The Canadian-Italian was speaking to TV financial news broadcaster CNBC, weeks after his newly merged FCA announced in its five-year plan that Chrysler's Jeep division was aiming to hit a target of selling one million vehicles in 2014, and nearly double that by 2018. Last year the SUV-maker sold 732,000 units. Manufacturing of Jeeps is to expand to 10 plants in six countries, far beyond its production plants now in the United States, according to the plan.

That will include new plants in China and Brazil, which officials said are expected to represent more than 30% of the global SUV market. Marchionne hatched the audacious idea to take over Chrysler after Fiat rescued the bankrupt Detroit automaker amid the US economic crisis in 2009.

Five years later, Fiat finally gained full control in a $4.35-billion US deal with a United Auto Workers union healthcare trust approved in January. It has also become more global, with FCA's new headquarters in the Netherlands, its tax base in the UK, and will be listed on the New York and Milan stock markets. "I'm incredibly proud of what we've done," Marchionne told CNBC.

The CNBC interview at following link:

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101693496