Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne flew to Berlin Monday for talks about possibly creating a new European car giant with GM's European division Opel.
The new company, tentatively called Fiat/Opel, would also include Fiat's stake in Chrysler and have estimated revenues of about 80 billion euros, putting it behind Toyota and roughly on a par with Volkswagen.
Talks on the prospective deal, which Marchionne has called ''a marriage made in heaven,'' come only days after Fiat's deal to help rescue Chrysler, America's No.3 carmaker, which has gone into bankruptcy protection to hopefully emerge in a couple of months with Fiat as the world's No.5 group.
On Opel (called Vauxhall in the UK), Marchionne will talk to German officials Monday with a view to closing the deal by the end of the month.
German Economy Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg said Monday, ahead of Marchionne's visit, that a ''long-term''' plan was needed.
