Fiat acquisisce il controllo di Zastava

[daimlerchrysler]

Fiat builds a second Tychy

With Polish plant full, Italian carmaker looks to Serbia for more output

TURIN -- Slightly more than half a century ago Fiat signed an historic licensing agreement that permitted Zavodi Crvena Zastava -- or Red Flag Plant in English -- to begin automobile production in Serbia.

That was 1954.

Today, the Italian automaker is getting ready to return to Serbia, but with radically different ambitions.

At the end of April, Fiat and the Serbian government signed a memorandum of understanding to transform the aging plant in Kragujevac into a modern car-production facility that will provide Fiat with a hub for low-cost minicars and small cars.

If all goes well, by 2010 Fiat will be turning out 300,000 cars a year in Kragujevac, 140km southeast of Belgrade.

More output needed

Fiat is already building cars in central Europe. Tychy, located in southern Poland near the border with the Czech Republic, is the group's largest car plant in Europe.

Next year, it will build 530,000 units, up from slightly more than 500,000 this year.

Tychy will then be operating at maximum capacity.

The Polish plant is the sole manufacturing center for the aged Fiat 600, the new 500 and Panda minicars.

In September, Tychy will also begin manufacturing the successor to the Ford Ka.

Knowing that Tychy would reach its limit, Fiat started looking for a second manufacturing plant in central Europe. The reasons are:

-- Fiat needs more capacity to build models based on the A-platform to keep its lead in Europe in minicars

-- Fiat needs more capacity to add a new low-cost model, currently called the B-compact, to its lineup. The car will be aimed at the world's emerging markets

-- Fiat's goal is to build more cars in low-cost countries.

Positioned in the center of what used to be Yugoslavia, Serbia is an ideal location to supply western, central and eastern European markets.

The road network will have to be improved, but the country can be easily reached both from the east and the west.

ENLARGE

The Kragujevac plant in Serbia.

EU access

In addition, Serbia, which is not a member of the European Union, has agreed with the 27-nation bloc that it can export to the member countries without paying duties.

Once Fiat completes the modernization of the Kragujevac plant at a cost of about €700 million, the facility hardly will be recognizable.

It will also produce vastly different cars.

In the past, Fiat models built by -- and badged -- Zastava were destined mainly for Serbia and neighboring countries.

This time, more than 95 percent of Kragujevac output will be exported, said Alfredo Altavilla, vice president business development at Fiat Group Automobiles.

Fiat will own 70 percent of a new company created to run the plant. The Serbian government will own the rest.

The new company will invest €700 million to revamp Kragujevac.

Zastava chronology

1853: Founded as a cannon-casting plant

1930s: Ford trucks assembled for the Yugoslav Army

1955: Assembly starts on Fiat models such as 1100B, 1400 and 600

1965: 6,000 cars exported to Poland

1980: Fiat 127-based Zastava 102 debuts. It becomes the Yugo 45, the only Zastava sold in the US

1988: Debut of Zastava's 1st proprietary model, the Giugiaro-designed Florida hatchback

1989: Production peaks at 180,950 units

1992: Trade sanctions imposed by UN halt exports and disrupt parts supply

1999: NATO aircraft bomb plant during the war in Kosovo

2000: Trade sanctions lifted, production resumes but capacity is reduced to 60,000 units a year

Low wages

Through incentives and tax breaks, the Serbian government will contribute about €200 million.

Fiat's motivation in going back to Serbia was no different from its reasons for moving into Poland 20 years ago: low labor costs.

Wage costs in Serbia are only half of what they are in Poland. Polish wages are a fraction of what they are in Italy, industry experts say.

Said Fiat group CEO Sergio Marchionne: "Over time, Kragujevac will become our second Tychy."

Fiat will build two low-cost models in the revamped Kragujevac plant: the new entry-level Topolino minicar and the B-compact range.

Serbia will be the sole production center for the Topolino.

Based on the A-platform used by the 500 and Panda minicars but shortened to 3150mm in length, the new Topolino will seat four people and debut late next year.

Kragujevac will also become the manufacturing center for central and eastern Europe for the new B-compact range, which will debut in 2010.

Currently under development at Fiat's technical center in Brazil, the B-compact range includes a hatchback and a station wagon to replace the Palio world-car family.

In Kragujevac last week, Altavilla said: "We will produce here two new models that will be exported all over the world."

Da automotive news europe

[viva l'italia]

Torno ieri a Mosca dopo 4 giorni in Serbia.

Ho visitato in serbia sia Belgrado che Novi Sad. E' impressionante il numero di fiat che si vedono... sembra un mercato domestico. Ad occhio FIAT pare avere il 15/20 % del mercato serbo.

Vengo a due considerazioni:

1) Moltissime G.Punto, molto piu' che in qualunque altro paese europeo sia stato, in rapporto al numero totale di auto vendute.

2) Le punto classic vecchie sono marchiate fiat ma quelle nuovissime hanno il marchio "Zastava" (???) ma FIAT produce in serbia la punto classic col marchi zastava? A questo punto mi chiedo: La produce in loco? altrimenti che senso ha? Che auto produce oggi zastava?

[jeby]

FIAT ha ceduto a Zastava le linee di produzione della punto clasic. Comunque il legame tra FIAT e Zastava è storico ed è destinato a tornare alla ribalta!

[Prestige]

http://www.autopareri.com/forum/mercato-finanza-e-societ/26495-voci-su-acquisizione-zastava-da-parte-di-fiat.html

[Regazzoni]

La Punto Classic Serba è la Zastava 10.

http://www.autopareri.com/forum/mercato-finanza-e-societ/20152-zastava-10-a.html

[ludico]

ma la zastava 10 dov'è assemblata?

[Ospite]

li in serbia.. colleghi di mio padre son andati a fare un sopralluogo settimana scorsa..

[ACS]

Zastava ormai è particamente Fiat con una partecipazione (minima) del governo locale...

Loro sono orgogliosisismi della loro fabbrica, e nazionalisti peggio di francesi. Ed anche di ottimo livello come qualità di produzione.

Molto meglio che in certe zone nostrane comincino a pensare un po' meno all'industria ed un po' + al turismo (ed alla ruera:D:D:D)

[<<Scarface>>]

Zastava ormai è particamente Fiat con una partecipazione (minima) del governo locale...

Loro sono orgogliosisismi della loro fabbrica, e nazionalisti peggio di francesi. Ed anche di ottimo livello come qualità di produzione.

Molto meglio che in certe zone nostrane comincino a pensare un po' meno all'industria ed un po' + al turismo (ed alla ruera:D:D:D)

[hp.75]

10.08.2008 NEW LOW COST FIAT COULD CARRY THE ZASTAVA NAME

Serbian Economy Minister Mlađan Dinkić says production of the new Fiat model at Zastava will begin in late 2009. “Fiat is considering placing the Zastava sign on the first model of the city car manufactured in Kragujevac,” Dinkić told Beta. According to him, the plan is for over 95 percent of Fiat’s output to be exported.

The minister said that it was planned for customs duty on vehicle imports to Serbia to be halved starting from January 1, 2009, as Fiat was not afraid of competition, while that duty would be abolished in 2010.

Reiterating that the contract between Serbia and Fiat on a strategic partnership would be signed in the first half of September, he said that that document had been synchronized in all its most important elements, though details concerning the scale of investment in infrastructure were still to be agreed. “Everything was effectively wrapped up in July, and the contract has 200 pages, together with the annexes,” said Dinkić, adding the the contract was of such significance that senior Italian government officials would be attending the signing.

The minister said that such a scale of investment was unprecedented for Serbia, since, he pointed out, the Italians would be investing over EUR 800mn, while the Serbian state would be investing around EUR 300mn in infrastructure over the coming three to four years. He said that the railway line from Kragujevac to Lapovo would be completely modernized, that a bypass would be built around Kragujevac, while other electricity sub-stations and gas facilities would also be built