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Ciao! Fiat dumps Italy as HQ heads to London

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Ciao! Fiat dumps Italy as HQ heads to London
A banner of Fiat - Chrysler in front of Fiat Headquarters at Lingotto in Turin. Photo: Marco Bertorello/AFP

Fiat is officially abandoning its home of Turin after more than a 100 years and heading to London after shareholders approved a merger with the US-based Chrysler, a move which marks the end of the carmaker as an Italian company.

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Now called Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, the company’s headquarters will be based in the UK, incorporated in The Netherlands and listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

A spokeswoman for the company denied reports that the firm will temporarily be based in the Slough, the town made famous by hit comedy the Office and where Fiat has its UK headquarters, ahead of an eventual move to London.

“The headquarters will remain in Turin before moving to London, but we don’t have a precise date for that yet," she told The Local.

The merger, orchestrated by CEO Sergio Marchionne, won approval from the majority of voters at an extraordinary general meeting in Turin on Friday.

The company, however, will keep its manufacturing base in Italy, and has plans to expand production of its luxury Maserati and Alfa Romeo cars.

Earlier this year, Marchionne pledged to keep factories open in the country.

Turin had been the home of Fiat for 115 years.

“We’ve known for some time that the company will move its headquarters to London, such is life,” an analyst for a Milan-based bank told The Local.

“But it will continue to invest in Italy, that’s the most important thing."

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