Fiat Auto Poland's factory at Tychy has just produced its 7,000,000 A-segment car, a Fiat Panda 1.2 Dynamic destined for an Italian customer.

The city of Tychy is located in Southern Poland, about 20km from Katowice, and is known for having the oldest beer distillery in the Northern European nation. Since 1972 it has also been home to a Fiat Auto factory that has grown in importance to Fiat Auto in recent years. Aside from production of the best-selling A-segment Panda range, the plant is a major hub of Fiat's diesel engine production and from next year it will also build a new joint venture project small car between Fiat and Ford. This compact new model will be based on the Panda's floorpan and be badged by Fiat as the 500, while Ford will use it to replace their existing Ka model range.

Since 1972 the Tychy factory has turned out 3,318,674 Fiat 126 models; 1,212,600 of the Fiat Seicento (which now branded as the Fiat 600); 1,164,389 of the Fiat Cinquecento; and finally 602,539 of the Fiat Panda had been assembled by the time the last one of that number to leave the factory also became the seven millionth example to roll off the production lines.
 

Fiat Auto Poland is the country's biggest automobile manufacturer. The Tychy plant produced 286,900 cars (Panda and 600) last year of which more than 90 pct (264,900) were exported. Major investment is currently going on at the factory, but build capacity is not scheduled to grow any further this year. Details of this new investment, which will be partly financed by Ford have not been revealed, but Fiat Auto Poland spent 570 million euros to prepare for the launch of the Panda model range in 2003.

The 7,000,000 A-segment car to leave the Tychy factory was a Panda 1.2 Dynamic which had been ordered by a customer in Italy. A short ceremony was held on the production line to denote its arrival. The Panda has been an unqualified success story for Fiat Auto in the three years since production commenced in Poland. A winner of the 'Car of the Year Award' (the first ever winner in its category) it dominates sales in the B-segment in Europe.