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Fiat Chrysler CEO says Apple’s desire to make a car is an ‘illness’, automobiles are a complex business

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Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne has weighed in on the continuing Apple Car rumors. In an interview with Reuters at the Geneva auto show, the executive said Apple should think twice before jumping into making cars. He said automobiles are a ‘complex business’ and it makes more sense for Apple to partner with an existing car manufacturer than do everything itself. The exec felt so strongly about this, he described it as an illness to want make cars independently.

“If they have any urges to make a car, I’d advise them to lie down and wait until the feeling passes,” Marchionne told journalists. “Illnesses like this come and go, you will recover from them, they’re not lethal.”


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Apple announces 9 new CarPlay partners including Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, and Fiat

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Apple today announced nine additional partners committed to shipping CarPlay integration in future vehicles marking the first expansion to that list since the feature was officially introduced in March. Joining the list of existing CarPlay partners for 2014 and beyond is Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Audi, Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat, Jeep, Mazda, and Ram. Each new auto manufacturer is committed to integrating CarPlay in models planned to be announced and released in the future.

Audi, as you may recall, first mentioned its plans to introduce CarPlay in an announcement last week, and yesterday the luxury car maker expanded on those plans saying support will roll out in Europe in 2015 and the United States during the following year.
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Apple responds to EU investigation into tax practices: “Apple pays every euro of every tax that we owe”

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Following a report yesterday that the European Commission was about to launch a formal investigation into Apple’s tax practices in Ireland, the EU has now officially announced the investigation at a press conference. Bloomberg reports that the investigation will include not just Apple, but also Starbucks and Fiat Finance & Trade SA and will look at “whether the tax deals in Ireland, the Netherlands and Luxembourg are illegal state aid.” 

“Special secret deals should be outlawed across the EU,” Chas Roy-Chowdhury, head of taxation at the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, said in an e-mailed statement. “All tax breaks and reliefs should be openly available for qualifying businesses.”

“We need to fight against aggressive tax planning,” Joaquin Almunia, the EU’s competition commissioner, said at a press conference in Brussels. He said it’s “still too soon to anticipate” possible recovery if the EU finds the tax rulings to be illegal.

Apple responded with a statement to Bloomberg following the news claiming that it “pays every euro of every tax that we owe” and that it “received no selective treatment from Irish officials.” Apple’s full statement is below:

“Apple pays every euro of every tax that we owe,” the company said in an e-mailed statement. “We have received no selective treatment from Irish officials. Apple is subject to the same tax laws as scores of other international companies doing business in Ireland.”

Apple last year faced a U.S. Senate hearing on its offshore tax practices in which it denied taking advantage of any tax loopholes in Ireland. The SEC also closed its own investigation without establishing any wrong-doing in October of last year.