2023-12-04 19:15:03
Milan (awp/afp) – The Stellantis automobile group confirmed on Monday its decision to produce its future electric Fiat Panda in Serbia, a project which sparked strong protests from Italian unions, worried regarding jobs in factories on the peninsula.
This announcement was made on Sunday by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic during a visit to Belgrade by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
The current generation of the Fiat Panda is manufactured at the historic Pomigliano d’Arco factory, near Naples. The electric model is expected in mid-2024.
The current Fiat Panda model “fully meets the mobility needs of a wide range of users, especially Italians,” said a Stellantis spokesperson.
“For this reason, we do not consider it to be in competition with the model that will emerge in Serbia, which will be on a different platform and positioned differently,” he argued.
“If the evolution of the regulations and the competitive conditions of the Pomigliano factory allow it, we intend to continue its life cycle and support it until the arrival of the new model cycle,” he said. he added.
The assembly of the electric Fiat Panda in Serbia is “an unacceptable decision which we will oppose by all means because we are not affecting the workers of Pomigliano”, protested the Fiom-Cgil union.
The Fim Cisl for its part demanded “all the necessary guarantees to maintain current levels of production and employment” in this factory.
“It is becoming urgent and essential to know which car model will replace the current Panda”, production of which in Pomigliano is scheduled until 2026, he added.
The subject will be debated during a first round table on the automotive sector organized on Wednesday in Rome by the Ministry of Enterprise, in which Stellantis, unions and representatives of the regions will participate.
This cycle of meetings aims to create the conditions allowing Stellantis to manufacture one million vehicles per year in Italy by 2028 or 2030, according to a source close to the negotiations.
Stellantis produced just 685,753 vehicles in Italy last year, in a market slowed by shortages of electronic chips.
The last two models presented by Fiat, the small SUV 600e and the Topolino, a license-free cart, will be manufactured in Poland and Morocco respectively.
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