DETROIT (Reuters) - Fiat Chrysler (FCA) is reviewing its investment plan for Italy after the country approved taxes on the purchase of larger petrol and diesel cars, CEO Mike Manley said on Monday.
The carmaker said in late November that it would spend more than 5 billion euros ($5.7 billion) on new models and engines in Italy over the next three years to try to make better use of factories and boost jobs and margins.
In December, however, Italy approved measures to offer subsidies of up to 6,000 euros to buyers of new low-emission vehicles while introducing taxes on the larger petrol and diesel cars.
"It certainly means it needs to be reviewed again. It's being reviewed at this moment," Manley told journalists on the sidelines of the Detroit auto show. "Until that review is finished I can't comment any further."
FCA's Italian plans were intended to deliver on a strategy outlined by late boss Sergio Marchionne in June, when he committed to keep converting Italian plants to churn out higher-margin Alfa Romeos, Jeeps and Maseratis, as well as hybrid and electric vehicles, to protect jobs and lift profits.
Manley, who took the helm at the world's seventh-largest carmaker last year after Marchionne's sudden death, also said that FCA's robotics business Comau and castings unit Teksid were not for sale at the moment.
"I'm focused on building value in those businesses. If I'm able to do that, that's going to give me options in the future," he said.
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FCA last year agreed to sell its biggest parts maker, Magneti Marelli, to Japan's Calsonic Kansei - owned by U.S. private equity firm KKR - for 6.2 billion euros.
That sparked renewed speculation that the smaller Comau and Teksid businesses could also go, especially after attracting interest from potential buyers in the past.
"One thing I learned in 2018: you should never say never," Manley said. "Those businesses have value, there have been people that have talked to us about those businesses and I've been interested to hear what they have to say."
($1 = 0.8712 euros)
(Reporting by Nick Carey; Writing by Agnieszka Flak; Editing by David Goodman)