The police force in the City of Mendoza have just taken delivery of forty special converted Fiat Sienas, some of the first cars to come of the production line at the Córdoba factory in Argentina.

The police force in the City of Mendoza has just taken delivery of forty Fiat Sienas, the first cars to come of the revived production line at the Córdoba factory in Argentina. The governor of Mendoza, Celso Jaque, oversaw the handover over the cars, during a ceremony accompanied by the police band, which have been specially converted for police use.

The Fiat Siena, the saloon member of the Project 178 'family' which includes the Palio (hatchback), Palio Weekend (estate) and Strada (pick-up), has just restarted production at Fiat's factory in Argentina, a plant that has been mothballed for more than four years due to a downturn in the Argentinean economy. The Siena will be joined on the assembly lines in Córdoba at the end of the year by a jointly built Fiat-Tata 1 ton pick-up, although the realisation of this vehicle has been hindered by disagreements on the interior and exterior styling by the two project partners.

The fleet of Sienas, painted in the white with blue flashes colour scheme of the Mendoza police, the fourth largest city in Argentina, have been specially converted for their new crime fighting use. The headlights, rear screen and the rear side door glasses have all been covered with a robust protective mesh, while flashing lights and a siren have been fitted to the roof. Inside the cars get new tougher and more hard wearing fabric covering for the seats to reflect their new and more demanding use.

The Siena's destined for the police as the first batch of cars off the line at Córdoba used up existing stocks of the outgoing shaped model's bodyshell, bumpers and light units, components that had remained in the factory since it was shutdown. The comprehensively facelifted Siena (2008) which went on sale in Brazil over winter, built at the Betim factory, will comprise the production version that is built for sale at Córdoba.

by Claudio Perlini / Source: Argentina Auto Blog