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Marchionne: Fiat plants could close

ROME, Feb. 25 (UPI) -- Chrysler and Fiat head Sergio Marchionne said two Italian plants could close if they cannot become competitive as automobile exporters.

Marchionne said demand for vehicles in Europe could remain sluggish through 2014, Italy's ANSA news agency reported Saturday.

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Chrysler plants in the United States, however, are running at full capacity and domestic demand has reached the point where Chrysler needs to import a third of its vehicles from plants in Mexico, Canada and possible Italy, Marchionne said.

In an interview published in the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, Marchionne said if production in Italy were not cost effective for the export market, "we will have to withdraw from two of our five operating plants."

Marchionne compared the situation to the movie "Sophie's Choice … when a Nazi tells Sophie she must choose to save one of her two children otherwise both would be killed."

"I hope I never have to be in that situation," he said.

He also said labor unions in Italy "talk too much in the media about Fiat and Marchionne and talk too little with us."

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