10.09.2004 Fiat have announced that during the first six months of 2004, auto division new car revenue was up 7.0% at 10.5 billion Euros

Fiat have announced that during the first six months of 2004, auto division new car revenue was 10.5 billion Euros, an excellent 7.0% increase on the corresponding period last year which saw 9.8 billion Euro's worth of cars sold.

This result, attributed to a raft of fresh new models, better pricing and strong growth in non-EU countries, bucked a negative trend for the industry overall.

Fiat meanwhile reported that the Group as a whole is well on its way to balancing the books this year, partly helped by strong results at CNH Global and Iveco. Recent new targets for the Auto Division to break even in 2006 are confirmed as being on course.

Yesterday Fiat Auto CEO Herbert Demel, stated that he sees maximising use of the manufacturers huge European-wide factories as a key future aim. With most plant now being downsized, including the giant Mirafiori facility with has lost nearly three-quarters of its workforce since its heyday, the excess space could comfortably be used by associated businesses.

At the same time the Austrian is looking to expand Fiat's range of alliances, which currently include joint auto projects with GM, off-road ones with Suzuki, and a long-established light commercial venture with Peugeot-Citroen.

Powertrain, the GM-Fiat joint venture, is presently undergoing major restructuring, as the company in particular adapts to the ever increasing demand for diesel engines, coupled with a decline in petrol power requirements.

The focus of these changes will see around 300 workers at Arese and 400 at Mirafiori having their jobs phased out.

These will be lost when Torque engine production, now no longer sustainable in Europe, is shifted entirely to Brazil. Meanwhile manufacturing of Alfa Romeo's long-running V6 engines will be discarded once the next-generation V6 engine range, developed jointly with GM, is introduced.

Powertrain currently has around 22,000 employee's in eight countries with around 38% of this total being based in Italy. Already the restructuring programme has seen the shedding of factories in the UK, Poland, Germany and Austria, as well as downsizing in Turkey and Sweden.