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Fiat and General Motors forge alliance
Tim Hepher
Milan, March 13: Italy's Fiat and the world's top carmaker General Motors were poised on Monday to unveil a major alliance in the latest cost-saving deal to hit the rapidly consolidating global car industry. The deal, which elbows aside rival interest in Italy's flagship industrial dynasty from DaimlerChrysler, will include cooperation in engines and components by allowing the two car giants to swap shareholdings, industry sources said. Fiat held a mid-afternoon board meeting to approve the dealand said it would hold a joint news conference with General Motors at its historic Turin headquarters at 1630 GMT. Shares in Fiat, as well as the Agnelli family holdingcompanies which control the Italian carmaker, were suspended. They were unofficially quoted up to seven percent higher as analysts said Fiat had landed a remarkably high price for denting the century-old independence of its car business. Copyright © 2000 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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