EU Looking into Loan for Fiat in Poland

Italian manufacturer Fiat and its operations in Poland, as well as some of the local authorities, have come to the attention of the European Union's antitrust regulators, who are now looking into a possible misuse of Polish funds by the auto maker.

According to just-auto.com, the European Union suspects the loan provided by the Polish authorities to Fiat for an engine-manufacturing project in Bielsko-Biala might be violating the anti-trust rules the Union is so fond of.

"At this stage, the commission has doubts the aid meets the EU guidelines on aid to large investment projects in relation to the market shares and production capacities of the Fiat Group," the EU statement reads.

At the time when the EU was announcing the launch of the probe into the new engine project, the Bielsko-Biala plant announced it had rolled off the assembly lines the four millionth 1.3 16v MultiJet engine.

The unit, which is used on several Fiat models (including Panda, Punto Evo, Fiat Qubo and the Fiat 500, is available with several power outputs, ranging from 75 horsepower, to 85 hp or 95 hp, (for the units with variable geometry turbochargers).

“This achievement is a testimony to the great success that this remarkable small diesel engine has achieved since 2003, the year in which production began,” said the Italian manufacturer in a statement released today.

“It features the first ever application of MultiJet technology on a world-wide scale, and is an evolution of the Common Rail system invented by Fiat and put into production in 1997.”