General Motors has flatly rejected the advances of its crosstown rival, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, but FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne is not going away — not by a long shot, Automotive News reports.

Marchionne says he has sweated the details and done the math and discovered there's far too much upside in a merger of FCA and GM to let a deal go undone, or at least unexplored.

Marchionne said the numbers come out so good that his board of directors has no choice but to put pressure on GM to begin discussions now.

That sounds like a hostile takeover bid is in the works, Automotive News speculated.

"Not hostile," said the FCA chief. "There are varying degrees of hugs. I can hug you nicely, I can hug you tightly, I can hug you like a bear, I can really hug you. Everything starts with physical contact. Then it can degrade, but it starts with physical contact."

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