ROME, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- Italian-American car maker Fiat-Chrysler confirmed it is flirting with a French car maker for the second time in less than six months, the companies revealed Wednesday.
This time the potential partner is the Peugeot and Citroen Group. It comes just months after a high-profile marriage between Fiat-Chrysler and France's Renault collapsed at the last minute.
Like the proposed Fiat-Renault deal, the new proposal would create a company evenly split between the shareholders of the two companies, though Fiat head John Elkann would be the president of the new firm. Other details are still under negotiation, according to media reports.
The combined company would produce around 9 million vehicles a year, good enough to make it either the third or fourth-largest carmaker in the world, depending on the output of other companies.
Based on the market capitalizations of the companies on Wednesday, the combined companies would have a total value of around 40 billion euros (44.6 billion U.S. dollars).
Wednesday's announcement was unexpected but the companies are moving fast. Peugeot's board of directors was scheduled to discuss the matter late Wednesday in Paris, with the Fiat-Chrysler expected to follow suit on Thursday in Turin.
