After the successful start of the third Professional MBA Automotive Industry in September 2011 participants are acquiring valuable new information. One of big issues in the automotive industry last year was the ongoing merger of FIAT and Chrysler. After passing through various performance events and investing its own equity Fiat now owns more than 58 % of Chrysler. Many experts have been skeptical of the merger, but now they praise that this will be a model for future transatlantic cooperation in the automotive industry.

During the presentation the participants were getting more detailed information from the Mag. Wolfgang Brunner, Public Relations Director, Fiat Group Automobiles Austria GmbH who was invited to give an evening lecture about the FIAT-Chrysler Cooperation. After his brief introduction on the history of both companies he described the background of the merger. Also changes in the development of product strategies were mentioned. As an example he mentioned the introduction of the Fiat 500 in the US market and the influence of US product strategies in Europe. In 1998 Daimler and Chrysler announced a merger of equals, but it turned out that it was not successful. In his lecture he compared the different approaches of Daimler and Fiat.

The evening lecture gave participants a good opportunity to get information about the merger of FIAT and Chrysler, the role of top management, the change of production strategies and the effects of the cultural difference between US and European car makers.

The development of the MBA Program is supported by the European Regional Development Fund and the Slovak-Austrian cross-border cooperation programme 2007-2013