Fiat, the Italian car manufacturer, is set to realign its £150m European media advertising business into WPP-owned agencies, a move that will see Mediaedge:cia take the £10m UK account from Publicis Groupe's Starcom, reports Media Week.

The Fiat Group designs, produces and sells cars worldwide under the Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Lancia, Fiat Professional and Abarth brands. Luxury sports marques Maserati and Ferrari are also part of the Fiat Group.

Earlier this year, Fiat moved its £8m Alfa Romeo account out of Starcom and into MEC, but Starcom continued to handle planning and buying for Fiat cars. The latest move is expected to start from January (2009), and ends a 17-year relationship that began when Leo Burnett and DMB&B, the two networks that went on to launch Starcom MediaVest, were named as Fiat agencies in 1991.

Since 2005, the Fiat Group has undergone a restructure and performed well. However, the Italian carmaker admitted to being caught in "the perfect storm" of adverse market conditions that will necessitate an increase in the sale price of its cars in line with raw material price hikes. It is not known if Fiat's creative account in the UK, handled by Krow since 2006, will be affected by the realignment.