General Italy plants will produce U.S. cars

[websmack]

Fiat confirms Italy plants will produce U.S. cars

Reuters, Tuesday September 25 2012
By Silvia Aloisi and Alberto Sisto
Summary:

MILAN/ROME (Reuters) - Fiat SpA confirmed on Tuesday plans to have its Italian factories make cars to be sold outside Europe, particularly in the United States, as it looks to counter a five-year slump in European sales. Fiat, which also runs Chrysler Group LLC in the United States, would not say which models it intends to produce in Italy for the U.S. market. Analysts have said that the models would likely be Jeeps and Chryslers. This would mark the first time that Fiat's Italian plants have produced cars for the United States. The automaker has been making the Fiat 500 subcompact for the U.S. market at a Chrysler plant in Mexico.

Full article available at:
www gardian co uk/business/feedarticle/10454925

 

[danijel]

And why not produce US cars for European market? Jeep is selling ok in Europe.

 

[raton_laveur]

Why would they build Jeeps in Italy for the US market? It can't be for lower labor costs.

How about the New Panda?

 

[Ralf S.]

Fiat's Italian plants are under-utilised at the moment so it's better that they make something rather than nothing. Jeeps would be good.. the spin-off would be that the models they sell in Europe wouldn't have to be shipped over.

Jeep models would have a bigger margin than Dodge or Chrysler... so there's scope to still turn a profit once higher labour and shipping is factored in.

Ralf S.

 

[RobinPJ]

Fiat's Italian plants are under-utilised at the moment so it's better that they make something rather than nothing. Jeeps would be good.. the spin-off would be that the models they sell in Europe wouldn't have to be shipped over.

Jeep models would have a bigger margin than Dodge or Chrysler... so there's scope to still turn a profit once higher labour and shipping is factored in.

Ralf S.

I think you'll find that tooling up a car plant is quite pricey, so if you have a plant producing in some other country, a manufacturer is unlikely to reduce or stop production there and start it up in a different location just because that location is under-utilised.

 

[Ralf S.]

Well.. there's been rumours that Sergio wanted to re-fit the Mirafiori (from memoire) plant to build a Jeep/Alfa "soft-roader" for a while.... something in the Ford Kuga/Nissan Quashqai size band using the getting-ubiquitous C-Evo wide platform.

Then it seemed he had a change of heart and wanted to build it in the US.. and now it seems to be coming back to Europe again.

You also have to remember that some of Sergio's rather random-sounding antics are designed to get the Italian unions to heel. He's been trying to get them to accept new working practices (or lose factories) for a while. It could be that he thinks the unions would be more compliant if they get to build a model that will sell in relatively big volumes. For all his bluster, I think Sergio wants to build cars in Italy...

Ralf S.

 

[fiat500prestopresto]

Jeeps are flat panel vehicles. Italian built Fiats have never been famous for good fit and finish. Jeeps do not require extremely close fit and finish as a Chrysler 300 for example. The Jeep SUV type vehicles are too big and too pricey for the euro-consumer; they would likely continue production in the US and Mexico.

 

[Ralf S.]

That's too simplistic. Cars are built by robots these days.. all the personnel do is load and unload metal pressings into the clamps on the machines and press "Go" for the robot to weld everything up.

In the old days cars were more flexible in the body which meant that some huge panel gaps had to be left so that the doors, wings and opening panels wouldn't chafe against each other. These days bodies are far more rigid (crash safety has really contributed to stiffer structures) and the body panel alignment is much tighter as a result.

The Italian built Fiats were a bit variable .. but then there were no non-Italian built Fiats to compare them to..

If you compare a Cinquecento door shut with a new Bravo doorshut, the new car (Italian built) is far tighter. 500 (being Polski but crucially very stiff in the bodywork, is also rather good.


Ralf S.


Ralf S.

 

[RobinPJ]

My first generation Mercedes ML had panel gaps you could get your fingers into. No exaggeration. And I seem to recall that was built in the USA?

 

[Super Uwe]

Am also not surprised to hear this - FIAT have spent a lot of money upgrading the Italian plants and, given that they aren't exactly churning cars out at full pelt, they need to fill capacity.

As for the reliability and quality of finish, time will tell. We have one of the new 2012 Pandas which is built at the Pomigliano d'Arco plant near Naples. So far everything seems to be OK, although there are a rash of fellow members who have a faulty boot switch. But you can't necessarily say that's the fault of the production plant, it could just be a dodgy batch of boot locking mechanisms.

As I have said before in other similar threads, FIAT have far too much to lose from building cars in Italy again, only for them to be of inferior quality. They aren't always 100% on the ball but I do honestly believe these cars will be built absolutely fine. If they aren't then FIAT only have themselves to blame.