Fiat Will Outline Serbia Plans
Italian automaker Fiat Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne said Thursday that it will announce its plans for which cars it will make at its Serbian factory at the end of next month.
“On the basis of our analysis up to this point, the vehicles produced in Serbia could be destined for numerous markets, including Eastern and Western Europe, Russia, and North America,” said Marchionne in a statement.
Fiat announced its platform-sharing plan with Chrysler Group LLC last week. Under the plan, Chrysler models will be sold in Europe.
Fiat’s announcement comes as Serbian President Boris Tadic was leading a delegation on a three-day visit to Italy. Tadic will meet Italy’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Friday.
Fiat bought a 67% stake in Serbia’s sole car maker, Zastava, in September 2008.
Since then, it has said little about its plans for the factory, which has lower wage costs than elsewhere in Eastern Europe.
Auto industry analysts are speculating that Fiat could use the Serbian factory to make Fiat and Chrysler vehicles to export to Russia in particular, which charges hefty import duties on foreign-made cars.
Russia and Serbia have signed a free trade accord, but it does not extend to cars, a Russian minister was quoted by the BBC as saying in April.
Jennifer Clark
Dow Jones
November 12, 2009
