Marchionne Wants An Apple-Fiat Romance

Sergio Marchionne (Credit: Fiat Chrysler Automobiles)

Sergio Marchionne, the fiery CEO of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, has yet another crush. Instead of pursuing another automaker, like he did unsuccessfully with General Motors not that long ago, he’s fantasizing about a passionate romance with Apple.

It’s no secret that Apple is looking to make an electric car. As we and plenty of others have reported, that effort has been full of problems for the tech giant. Apple’s in over its head with making a car from scratch, and the word is it’s looking to partner up with an automaker to get things back on track. While there have been plenty of indications that an agreement with Tesla or BMW could be happening, Marchionne thinks he has the perfect fit.

Why would FCA make a good partner for Apple? The company has little experience with EVs and electrification in general. In fact, the automaker is often associated with cars like the Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat, which is the polar opposite of vehicles like the Tesla Model S.

Perhaps the plan is to team up with Apple and gain a better tech footing in the auto industry as a way to turn around the image of FCA. Or maybe Marchionne wants a sick discount on a new Mac?

Marchionne thinks that he speaks Apple’s love language or “syntax” because he owns like every possible kind of Apple product out there. In an interview with Bloomberg, the auto CEO basically hints that Apple would be bringing more value to the table than any automaker, including FCA. That kind of statement would put him in a subservient position at the negotiating table, which is an interesting strategy.

Right now an Apple-FCA romance or even a little collaboration doesn’t seem too likely. The closest that probably will come out of this is Fiat Chrysler making Apple CarPlay standard on more models so drivers can talk to Siri during their boring daily commute.