Fiat in great shape: CEO

Turin - Italian auto giant Fiat is "in great shape", but the government must "remove the anchors that are tethering our country to the past", chief executive Sergio Marchionne said.

"Doing business in this country seems like the labours of Sisyphus," he said Monday at the company's headquarters in the northern industrial city of Turin.

"We're the country with the highest taxes in Europe, the slowest justice system, the most expensive electricity and gas and the most tortuous bureaucracy," Marchionne said.

"The worst infrastructure in Europe and most complicated export procedures, the costliest credit and the scourge of corruption all need adding to the list of inefficiencies," Marchionne added.

"And obviously, we are at the bottom of the productivity table," he added, saying he did not blame the workers but "the system".

Marchionne last week denied Fiat would leave Italy or had plans to close its factories here despite financial losses that he said would reach 700 million euros this year.

Earlier Monday, Italy's Prime Minister Mario Monti denied that Fiat had asked the government for financial assistance during a meeting he had Saturday with Marchionne that lasted over five hours.

Fiat wanted to "re-orient its business model" within Italy to help boost exports outside Europe, Monti’s office said in a joint statement with Fiat Saturday after his meeting with Marchionne.

Fiat has been forced to idle factories in Italy, where car sales have slumped to levels not seen since the 1960s, and the company has come under mounting pressure from unions and politicians to clarify if it will stay in the country or not.

Fiat has suspended investments in Italy, reducing spending by 500 million euros in Europe in 2012 and delaying new models, amid plunging car sales.

Sales data for August showed a 20 percent drop in Italy, and the latest forecasts for car demand in Europe did not exceed 12.5 million units - the second lowest level in the past 20 years, Marchionne said, describing the market as "a disaster".

"The European car market is a disaster. It has plunged off a precipice that doesn't seem to have bottomed out yet. The prospects are anything but rosy," he said.

Marchionne has said he doesn’t expect sales to recover in the region before 2014.