Fiat And Chrysler Invest Big Into New Plant. In Italy
The rescue of Chrysler is making great strides. Sergio Marchionne today presented union officials an audacious plan. Powered by an investment of $1.3b, Chrysler and Fiat will build Alfa Romeos and Jeeps under one huge roof. The roof is in Mirafiori, Italy. Also known as the Fiat factory in Torino. And who will pay for all that? Fiat will pay 60 percent. Chrysler will pay 40 percent.
That factory currently makes the Fiat Idea, Multipla und Punto Classic, along with the Alfa MiTo, and the Lancia Musa. Last year, 178,000 units were built here. After the huge investment, the capacity will leapfrog to an astounding 250,000 to 280,000 units per annum, reports Automobilwoche [sub].
5,400 Italian workers will build 150,000 Alfas and 100,000 Chryslers there. First will be the Made-in Italy Jeep Compass/Patriot. Alfa will also get an SUV, which probably will share a good deal, if not most of the technology. Half of the total volume is destined for Europe, the other half will be exported, “mainly to the U.S.A,” says Automobilwoche. The cars sit on the new Compact Wide platform, a derivative of current Fiat technology.
By the way, Marchionne announced a $26b investment plan between now and 2014. He’ll spend the money if the unions play ball. The Italian unions. Expect more Chrysler contribution to the great rejuvenation of the Italian automobile industry.
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If the picture is courtesy of carspyphotos.com, why does it have a big Autoblog watermark in it?
Honda says it gets about 100 cars/year for each employee at its North American Plants. http://www.hondanews.com/channels/corporate/releases/b0ee535c-8427-2b95-ec49-92004c34ba32 280,000 vehicles from 5400 employees is only 51.
So let's see if I got this right. When Japanese companies build plants here in the US to make Japanese designed and engineered cars to sell to Americans that's good. But when an American company with a minority European ownership stake takes a plant in Europe to make American designed and engineered cars to sell to Europeans that's bad. Ok, got it.
@windswords: "...But when an American company with a minority European ownership stake takes a plant in Europe to make American designed and engineered cars to sell to Europeans that’s bad. Ok, got it." No, you didn't get it. The question simply is, how does this compute. No need to waive any flags.