Fiat and Tata Motors are expanding their strategic co-operation with the start of an industrial project outside India. This is a further significant step towards an integrated strategy of targeting specific markets and segments.

The agreement, which calls for a Tata license to build a pick-up vehicle bearing the Fiat nameplate at Fiat Group Automobiles’ plant in Córdoba, Argentina, follows a feasibility study started in July 2006. The first vehicles will roll off the Córdoba assembly lines during 2008. Annual production is slated at around 20,000 units. Total planned investment in the project is around US$80million.

With the production of the pick-up model, the Fiat complex in Córdoba will retake the integral activity of all its productive units, to a great extent reinitiated with the manufacture of Fiat engines and gearboxes and the recent agreement to produce gearboxes for PSA Peugeot-Citröen. The pick-up, based on the new generation Tata pick-up truck, will be sold in South and Central America and select European markets through Fiat Automobiles’ distribution and importer network. This will permit the Fiat brand to aggressively enter the medium pick-up sector, thanks to Tata Motors’ specific know-how.

The Fiat pick-up, powered by an FPT engine, will be styled and positioned differently from the Tata pick-up. It will be available in the following versions: 4x4, 4x2, double and single cab and powered by a JTD diesel 2.3 litres, 134 PS Euro IV engine, manufactured in Fiat Powertrain Technology’s facility in Sete Lagoas, Brazil. Tata Motors considers Latin America as an important market and is examining options for offering its products in this region, including through cooperation with Fiat and Iveco for manufacturing and distribution.

“This agreement is a further step in the building of a large, focalised partnership with Tata,” Mr. Sergio Marchionne, CEO of Fiat Group and of Fiat Group Automobiles said, “and will allow Fiat to enter a specific car segment with a very competitive product. We believe in a win-win know-how exchange with our Indian partner.”

Mr. Ratan N. Tata, Chairman of the Tata Group and Tata Motors said, “I am very pleased at this first step in expanding the Fiat Group and Tata relationship beyond the shores of India, and would hope this would augur well for a truly global partnership across markets and business segments.”

Tata Motors is India's largest automobile company, with revenues of US$ 5.5 billion in 2005-06. With over 4 million Tata vehicles plying in India, it is the leader in commercial vehicles and the second largest in passenger vehicles. It is also the world's fifth largest medium and heavy truck manufacturer and the second largest heavy bus manufacturer. Tata cars, buses and trucks are being marketed in several countries in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, and South East Asia and in Australia. Tata Motors and Fiat Auto have announced the formation of an industrial joint venture in India to manufacture passenger cars, engines and transmissions for the Indian and overseas markets. Tata Motors already distributes Fiat-branded cars in India. The company’s international footprint include Tata Daewoo Commercial Vehicle Co. Ltd. in South Korea; Hispano Carrocera, a bus and coach manufacturer of Spain in which the company has a 21% stake; a joint venture with Marcopolo, the Brazil-based body-builder of buses and coaches; and a joint venture with Thonburi Automotive Assembly Plant Company of Thailand.