Henry Payne for May 15, 2015

More like a rich uncle as a suitor.

Oh really?Fiat is a tiny company? In automaker world rankings it’s listed 7th behind Ford’s 6th, and GM’s 2nd. 8th is Honda, 9th is Peugeot Citroen and 10th is BMW. 1st is Toyota.

So, who are Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino:Some of their marques: Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat, Jeep, Lancia, Ram Trucks, Abarth, Ferrari & Maserati.

I’ve seen a few Dodge Rams on European roads, and far more Jeeps. They don’t seem small…Ferrari & Maserati, never heard of them.

Perhaps Payne’s sneer should note that the rescued Chrysler benefited from Fiat’s know-how to build fuel-efficient, smaller vehicles. The tiny Ford Ka has been in production since 1996…and Fiat & Ford formed an alliance to produce the new Ford Ka (in 2005), now produced by Fiat in Poland, and…yeah, the Fiat 500. Looks like Fiat & Ford have been in a commited relationship a fair while. Perhaps one or the other will join each other’s harem and make it official.

Interesting that the US gave Fiat money to “retool” – which almost precisely matched the amount Fiat had to pay to take over Chrysler.