FCA to Apple: Let Us Build Your Car

If Apple Inc. plans to build its own car as reports say, it would be wise to leave the metal-bending part of the job to an established company such as Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, opines CEO Sergio Marchionne.

“If they have any urges to make a car, I’d advise them to lie down and wait until the feeling passes,” he jokes with reporters at the Geneva auto show.

A self-professed “Apple freak,” Marchionne says FCA is ready to cede software prowess to such companies as Apple. In exchange, the carmaker can provide the manufacturing know-how to transform Apple’s vehicle ideas into drivable products.

He adds that the auto industry’s arrogance about knowing how to make cars isn’t helpful in forging the software partnerships they need to build tomorrow’s vehicles. FCA understands Apple’s mindset, he asserts, and acknowledges “their syntax is worth more than our ability to build cars.”

Marchionne has been shopping for a partner for FCA for a year, even though he said earlier this week the company isn’t in talks with anyone at the moment.