Fiat Chrysler's CEO is about to bring the last piece of the puzzle to the carmaker (FCAU)

pulse

June 4, 2018 3:44 PM

FCA announced that it will establish its own captive-finance arm. FCA is the only big carmaker without a captive, but CEO Sergio Marchionne's focus has been on other aspects of the company's well-being.

CEO Sergio Marchionne will retire in 2019 and wants to leave FCA is good shape to compete.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne is set ot retire in 2019. But before he goes, Marchionne has one last puzzle-piece to bring to the Fiat-Chrysler merger, which began after the Chrysler bailout and bankruptcy in 2009.

FCA added that it sold more than two million vehicles in 2017 — but it did so without owning the financing.

The company's leases and loans are handled by Santander, which operates Chrysler Credit; FCA is alone among big carmakers in not having a captive-finance arm.

Marchionne has periodically lamented this, but establishing a captive hasn't been at the top of his to-do list. Instead, he's been focused on eliminating as much debt as possible from FCA's balance sheet before he departs.

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