Fiat to Spend $5.7 Billion to Revamp Italy Car Plants

[Bili]

• Spending represents some 11% of global capital expenditure
• Fiat to add Alfa SUV, Jeep Compass, electric Fiat 500 in Italy

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV will spend 5 billion euros ($5.7 billion) through 2022 on the carmaker’s factories in Italy, stepping up the pace on making more in-demand sport utility vehicles and electric cars, people familiar with the plans said.

The increased outlay will finance Fiat’s plan to build a compact Alfa Romeo SUV at the Pomigliano plant, hometown of Italy Deputy Premier Luigi Di Maio, and a battery-powered Fiat 500 in Turin’s Mirafiori factory, the people said, declining to be named because the information isn’t public. The manufacturer’s Italian sites for years have struggled to run at full capacity, raising costs.

In addition, a second model under the Jeep brand will be manufactured in southern Italy to tap into burgeoning demand for SUVs. The investment will allocate more than 11 percent of Fiat’s average 8.7 billion-euro global expenditure through 2022 on product overhauls and electric cars to Italy.

A spokesman for Fiat declined to comment.

The Italian-American carmaker’s plans for Italy, set to be officially announced later Thursday, comes as the company grapples with an increasingly lopsided business that saw North America account for some 97 percent of profit during the third quarter. Earlier this week, General Motors Co. said it’s shuttering seven factories globally and shedding more than 14,000 jobs to cut unprofitable models and juggle unprecedented spending on new technologies with an uncertain payoff.

Fiat will keep all Italian factories open, the people said earlier. A third pillar of Fiat’s plan adds the compact Jeep Compass SUV to be made alongside the Renegade and the Fiat 500X in Melfi, southern Italy, they said. Deliveries for the brand surged 61 percent in the year through October in Europe, contrasting with a decline of 2 percent for the group.

https://www.bloomberg.com/europe

 

[Bili]

29 November 2018

Meeting between FCA and Trade Unions in Turin

• Investments focused on Full Electric and Hybrid powertrains.
• First installation of a dedicated small Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) platform, with initial application on the all-new Fiat 500 BEV.
• Strong synergies achieved through common application of electrified powertrains and platform sharing
• Optimal use of existing Italian industrial footprint and available capacity

A meeting was held today at Mirafiori (Turin) between Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and the trade union signatories to the collective labor agreement applicable to Group companies in Italy. During the meeting, management presented the product plan for Italian plants that will support implementation of the 2018-2022 Business Plan presented at FCA's Capital Markets Day last June in Balocco.



FCA CEO Mike Manley opened the meeting and said: "Mirafiori will represent the first installation of a full BEV platform applied on the new Fiat 500, capable of scaling to other applications worldwide. Additional investments across our Jeep, Alfa Romeo, and Fiat brands will realize the benefits of existing plant capacity as well as scale and sourcing efficiencies from a common vehicle architecture, and Plug-in Hybrid Electric propulsion (PHEV) system, while preserving traits unique to the brands".



Pietro Gorlier, Chief Operating Officer for the EMEA region, presented the Group's industrial plan for Italy, which includes the launch of 13 all-new or restyled models during the 2019-2021 period, and the development of new powertrain solutions with a significant focus on hybrid and electric technologies.



In particular, Pietro Gorlier further explained the details of the major initiatives to be launched in the next few weeks, including investment in production of the new Fiat 500 BEV at Mirafiori (Turin), and the European Jeep Compass in Melfi, leveraging the already installed vehicle platform and PHEV which underpin the Jeep Renegade. Applying that same flexible platform and PHEV technology, activities will also commence to prepare Pomigliano to produce an Alfa Romeo compact UV. A Fiat Panda MHV (Mild Hybrid Vehicle) will also be launched in Pomigliano.



In addition, Gorlier announced a new module at Termoli for production of turbo, naturally-aspirated and hybrid versions of the 1.0L and 1.3L FireFly gasoline engine.



The planned initiatives across vehicles and powertrain systems will leverage existing capacity, providing a clear product mission for the Italian plants and enabling a return to full employment.



Investment in Italy over the 2019-2021 period will total more than €5 billion.



"The investment programmed for Italy over the plan period, which focuses on the use of common, flexible and electrified vehicle platforms, will reinforce the orientation of the Italian industrial footprint toward our global brands and global markets," commented Gorlier. "In the next few months, we will be launching employee training programs focused on hybrid and electric technologies. I am convinced that, together with our workforce, we will succeed in implementing these exciting new programs in the marketplace".



Turin, 29 November 2018

http://www.press.fcaemea.com/press/article/meeting-between-fca-and-trade-unions-in-turin

 

[Bili]

Overt there on Allpar I've been saying for a long time that choice is beetwen Small Wide and Giorgio platform for Alfa's compact SUV. And I've said that in case of Pomigliano as a chosen plant that most likely it will be on Small Wide.

CUSW or a Compact platform was never under a consideration.

 

[Bili]

Unfortunately the following video is in Italian. FCA COO for EMEA region is talking about future products FCA products from Italy in 2019-2021. He mentioned a lot of products including Jeep Renegade and Compass PHEV, restyling for a Giulia and Stelvio with PHEV and Maserati D SUV from the same factory, PHEV for current Maserati products, new Fiat 500 BEV.
They will keep production in Modena where they will introduce future Alfa and Maserati specialty models.

And at the very end he spoke about future Alfa Romeo compact SUV. He described platform as a new one which will use the same PHEV arhitecture as Renegade and Compass. This will be first of many applications for this new FWD platform. AFAIK development is headed by Torino R&D center. Small Wide should be a starting point. Production start is expected in the June of 2020.

 

[Freshforged]

This is great news. It should have the same effect of increasing production efficiency we’ve benefited from in the US. In the end FCA should have the right products in the right factories for most of its operations world wide. Hopefully not too late to avoid the oncoming market correction.