The Buzz | Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot sign deal for 50-50 merger

The boards of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and PSA Peugeot yesterday signed a binding merger deal creating the world’s fourth-largest automaker with the scale to confront the challenges of stricter emissions regulations and the transition to new driving technologies.
The companies said in a joint statement the new group will be led by PSA’s cost-cutting CEO Carlos Tavares, with Fiat Chrysler’s chairman John Elkann as head of the board of the merged group. Fiat Chrysler CEO Mike Manley will stay on, though it was unclear in what capacity.
No name for the new company has been decided, executives said, but both Tavares and Manley insisted it was not a “touchy subject.”
The executives said they expect the 50/50 deal to take 12-15 months to close. It will create a company with revenues of nearly 170 billion euros (nearly $190 billion) and producing 8.7 million cars a year — just behind Volkswagen, the Renault-Nissan alliance and Toyota.