OCTOBER 23, 2002

Worse to come for Fiat?

Ferrari's parent company Fiat is set to announce even bigger losses for its Fiat Auto subsidiary after a board meeting on October 31. Reports suggest that the loss will be at least one third of its capital and that means that the company will, under Italian law, have to be recapitalised.

Fiat has already poured more money into Fiat Auto once this year. This caused the parent company to post a big loss in the first half of the year. The losses are now believed to be up to more than $1bn for the first nine months of the year. Fiat and its 20% partner General Motors are expected to refinance Fiat Auto as they continue negotiations to cut the losses by restructuring the company.

The problem is that it is not sure where the extra money is going to come from...