Marchionne has been emboldened by recent successes of activist investors at GM and sees them as a means to consolidate the auto industry, the newspaper cited the people as saying. Fiat Chrysler and GM were not immediately available for comment outside regular U.S. business hours. GM said in March had reached a deal with an investor group over its balance sheet and governance and said it would launch a $5 billion share buyback program in an effort to avert a proxy war with the investors.