Fiat Putting the Final Touches on New Plant in Serbia to Build Unnamed New Car
09/25/09
While Fiat may have its hands full figuring out what to do with Chrysler here in the U.S., the company hasn't forgotten about its operations in the rest of the world. The company is finalizing plans to convert the old Zastava plant in Serbia (which once built Yugos) into a modern operation that will produce a new, unnamed Fiat car.
If all goes to plan, the former Zastava plant located in Kragujevac, outside of Belgrade, should be up and running and rolling out cars by 2011, though Fiat won't say what new car will be built there. The Serbian president and deputy prime minister will travel to Italy in early November to meet with Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne to inspect a prototype of the new car to be built in Serbia. The plant is expected to build upwards of 200,000 cars per year.
Serbia expects the plant to create at least 10,000 new jobs in the cash-strapped country, which has become an attractive manufacturing site for Italian companies. The country claims that more than 200 Italian companies have operations within its borders employing more than 18,000 Serbs. The country has been using big incentives like low taxes, plus provided land and infrastructure and a $7,500 cash incentive per new job to lure Italian companies across the Adriatic Sea. The country is also hoping to lure Fiat's suppliers over to Serbia as well to stock the new plant.
Source: Fiat
Article Link:
Fiat Putting the Final Touches on New Plant in Serbia to Build Unnamed New Car - Wide Open Throttle - Motor Trend Magazine
