At the end of May this year, FCA made a formal merger offer to Renault, a deal which had some notable industrial logic. The proposal, however, foundered on a series of political and corporate rocks, notably the tardiness of the French government in appearing to accept the idea, and Nissan’s own lack of enthusiasm for it. The proposed merger may yet be revived, but for now FCA’s ambition to achieve global status, which the merger with Renault would have produced through its shareholdings in Nissan, Mitsubishi, AvtoVAZ and Samsung, are on hold.

As a result, FCA remains essentially a North American-European operation, with the former side of the business focused on Jeep SUVs and Ram pickups, along with a dwindling Dodge and Chrysler range, and the latter operating in Europe and Brazil. The company has only a fledgling business in China, and almost none in India, nor in the rest of Asia – and that is why the idea of merging with Renault, which through its Japanese affiliates is strong across Asia, was so attractive…