So that’s probably one of the impacts of the whole economic crash of the past years. More and more big companies are out to streamline their brands. And with car marquees being traded to and fro, those who did most of the getting probably ended up with more badges than they can handle.

Such is the case with Fiat who has taken over Chrysler after the Detroit company’s collapse last year. The company ended up with the whole Chrysler range on top of all the other Italian brands that they already own. Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne has hinted time and again of possible mergers of brands.

Fiat’s latest corporate move is to appoint Harald Wester, who already runs Abarth and Maserati, to head Alfar Romeo. Reports claim that his primary task is to identify “synergies” between the three groups. A merger is likely because of this move.

Marchionne previously said that Alfa can share its platforms with Chrysler and another is to just freeze new developments. Alfa has been known to Fiat’s underperforming brand for a long time.