With Fiat Group busy formulating a plan for European production following the announcement of its strategy for Chrysler Group in North America, Italian media reports a significant boosting of Italian output could be on the cards. Sunday's edition of the influential Italian daily newspaper La Repubblica claims that production in Italy could rise to 900,000 units under proposed sweeping changes set to be made to Fiat's Italian vehicle manufacturing factory structure.

Ramping Italian production to 900,000 units would be a significant rise from current levels with this year's output expected to be not far in excess of 600,000 units. La Repubblica however does state its sources as being "local speculation" in Turin. Fiat is working on the plan which will be presented to the Italian government next month and which will update the last industrial plan which has now been overtaken by the effects of the global economic recession and the acquisition of Chrysler Group this summer. However with Fiat set to take the politically explosive decision of shuttering one or possibly two of its Italian factories in the next couple of years, plus renewed emphasis on boosting several key production facilities outside Italy, the Italian media is also speculating that announcing a significant hike in production could amount to spin to put a gloss over these tough decisions.

According to the leaked elements of the plan the closure of Termini Imerese factory will still go ahead, Fiat has already announced that car production will stop in 2011, with the factory then being "reassigned" duties within the Group. Fiat has long been looking for away of taking the politically sensitive decision of shutting the Sicilian factory located in an area where industry and jobs are in short supply. While previous Fiat bosses have abandoned mooted closure plans often at the last minute, current CEO Sergio Marchionne is however determined to press ahead.

Termini Imerese currently builds the B-segment Lancia Ypsilon hatchback which is based on the architecture of the last-generation Punto Classic model that was prior to the Ypsilon assembled at the Sicilian factory. The all-new next-generation Ypsilon will be based on the forthcoming Fiat 500 Giardiniera platform; it will have a 240 cm wheelbase, be around 380 cm long, and feature the forthcoming twin-cylinder 900cc as well as the 1.4 unit with MultiAir and the 1.3 MultiJet II turbodiesel, all including Start&Stop technology. Due to its new platform family Fiat has already announced that the next Ypsilon will be built at the Tychy factory in Poland, currently home to the Fiat Panda and 500.

According to La Repubblica yesterday, the second threatened Italian plant, Alfa Romeo's almost four-decade-old Pomigliano d'Arco facility near Naples could finally end its association with Alfa Romeo and switch to building the Fiat Panda, thus freeing up urgently-needed capacity at Tychy which is currently bursting at the seams trying to keep up with demand for the Panda and 500. The newspaper touts annual production of the Panda at Pomigliano d'Arco at 270,000 units per year. The historic Alfa Romeo factory, originally built to provide employment in one of the country's jobs black spots, initially produced the Alfasud, a 1970s Italian motoring icon, reportedly has the lowest level of productivity within the Group and with its key mass-production model, the Alfa 147, now reduced to trickling off the production lines ahead of the arrival of its successor, the Milano, which will be switched away from Naples due to its different underpinnings, present production is limited to the niche-selling Alfa 159, in sedan and Sportwagon guises, as well as a very small quantity of the Alfa GT Coupé. Removing hAlfa Romeo production from Naples in favour of the Panda would take away the historic focus of this plant and make it much easier to phase it out of Fiat's manufacturing plans when the small Fiat model is eventually replaced. The third plant that has big question marks over its future role within the Fiat Group is the historic Mirafiori factory in Fiat's hometown, Turin, and here La Repubblica reports that the B-segment Alfa MiTo hatchback is the only model to be assured of a long-term future at the giant plant.