The company’s C.E.O., Sergio Marchionne, also said that the automotive producer could use similar moves for four other passenger car models that were supposed to be brought to life in Italy, with the list including Alfa Romeo and Chrysler vehicles.
Fiat previously announced that the new-generation of the Idea and Multipla would be built at its Mirafiori plant that is based in Turin, Italy. Now, the carmaker’s CEO said that the decision has been changed due to to the fact the the company has not reached an agreement with workers to assure the increasing of the productivity for its Pomigliano d'Arco site (Naples area).
This means that Fiat will invest EUR1 billion in its Serbian Kragujevac plant, with the factory’s capacity being increased by 190,000 units per year for the production of the aforementioned minivans. The vehicles will roll off the production lines starting from late next year or early 2012.
The other Fiat cars that could see their production outsourced are the Alfa Romeo Giulietta (the most important model in Alfa’s current range), the replacement for the Chrysler Sebring and a new compact sedan that would be marketed under the Dodge or Chrysler brands. The Alfa and the Chrysler cars were supposed to be produced at the Mirafiori site while the company planed to bring the upcoming compact sedan to life at its Cassino plant.
Fiat is sticking to the plan of expanding car production in Italy from 650,000 to 1.15 million units per year in 2014, but the company won’t inject any cash in production projects until it reaches a productivity deal for the Pomigliano site.
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