Fiat Lines Up $600m Sedan Venture

Fiat Auto will be investing $600 million for a greenfield project with an installed capacity of 1,00,000 cars a year. Pune in Maharashtra is the front-runner site for the project.

The Fiat plant in Cordoba, Argentina will be commissioned in December 1996 and will also have the installed capacity of 1,00,000 units per year.

Argentina is the second country after Brazil to get the world car from Fiat. Poland, Turkey, China and India are the other nations included in the project.

The three volume or three box version based on the Palio theme will be the fourth model in the A 178 range.

The cars that bear the Palio badge are the 3 and 5 door hatchbacks and a station wagon by the tag Palio Weekend.

Apart from the three box sedan, a pick-up version for the Brazilian market and a monospace van is also planned.Fiat is also developing a 1700cc diesel engine which will be used by the A 178 sedans in Argentina and India.

Cledorvino Belini CEO of Fiasa (Fiat Automotives s.a.) told Business Standard that the first two models of the project, the Palio and the Palio Weekend have met with unprecedented success in the Brazilian market.The Project 178 A that brought in investment from Fiat to the tune of $1.6 billion in 1995-96 is already on the road to success.

The Betim plant situated in the province of Minas Gerais touched the production mark of 2000 cars a day and the Fiat Palio in its 1000cc, 1500cc and 1600cc 16V versions combined, is the second largest selling car in the country.

The Palio is now marketed in all the Mercosur states that includes Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina besides Brazil. Fiasa is also the biggest vehicle exporter in Brazil.

Fiat Auto is expecting to build 4,50,000 Palios and its variants a year, in SouthAmerica, when production matches the installed capacity in the Betim and Cordoba plants.BODY>