Partnership negotiations between Fiat and Chrysler are in the hands of Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne, the chairman of the Turin automaker, Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, said on Friday.
''The only thing I have to say about this is that we should leave it up to Sergio Marchionne and his staff to see whether a solution can be found by the end of the month,'' Montezemolo said.
The Washington administration of President Barack Obama has given Chrysler until May 1 to strike a partnership deal with Fiat in order to have access to further federal bail-out funds and avoid bankruptcy.
The deal in part hinges on unions and lenders accepting stock in Chrysler in exchange for the debt owed to them.
An accord draft leaked to the press on Thursday indicated that unions would take a 20% stake in Chrysler, the same as Fiat's initial stake, as payment for half their pension fund.
Marchionne is also asking that unions except wage cuts to bring labor costs in line with those in other plants in the US producing foreign cars, in states where the union have less power.
He added that Fiat was ready to ''walk away'' if the concessions were not made, while Montezemolo has said that a 'Plan B' existed should the accord fall through.
The leaked draft also indicated that Marchionne would serve as CEO for both Fiat and Chrysler, while the US automaker would have an American chairman of the board.
In this case, it is not clear what would happen to Chrysler's current CEO, Bob Nardelli.
Marchionne has been credited for what Obama has described as Fiat's ''impressive'' turn around and the authoritative daily Financial Times on Friday likened him to a ''superhero'' in a ''Chrysler cliffhanger''.
According to the draft accord, if a partnership is created then Fiat, unions and a federally appointed trust would name a future seven-man Chrysler board.
The federal trust would initially hold a significant stake in Chrysler, in exchange for the bail-out funds, including a 15% share which Fiat would receive in 5% instalments as it meets production milestones.
Fiat is offering its cutting-edge green technology and platforms for small cars in exchange for as much as 35% of Chrysler but it is likely to be also given an option to acquire up to 49% or more, once the bail-out loans have been repaid.
The Italian automaker is keen to strike a deal with Chrysler because it would have access to its plants and dealerships in order to allow it to return to the American market, initially with Alfa Romeo and the trendy Fiat 500 city car.
Chrysler, in turn, would have access to Fiat's facilities in Europe and Latin America.
