Fiat has already stated that when the next-generation Lancia Ypsilon is launched (above, the current Ypsilon in "Ecochic" format) in a year-and-a-half’s time it won’t be built at Termini Imerese.

Fiat’s unions, fighting to save the Termini Imerese plant in Sicily which is earmarked for closure, are stepping up the pressure ahead of Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne’s meeting with Italian Industry Minister Claudio Scajola next week when the he will present an overview of a new industrial plan for Italy that takes into account the revised manufacturing scenario that exists now that the carmaker has taken control of the fortunes of Chrysler Group and the integration and rationalisation that will follow. Later in the month Marchionne will meet with Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi. The unions are also concerned that Fiat will transfer some production to North America in the future.

A battle is also brewing over the winding up of car production at the Temini Imerese plant in Sicily. Fiat has already said that when the next-generation Ypsilon is launched in a year-and-a-half’s time it won’t be built at Termini Imerese. The new Ypsilon will be based on the forthcoming Fiat 500 Giardiniera’s underpinnings and will be manufactured at the Tychy plant in Poland. Termini Imerese is the smallest of Fiat’s vehicle producing factories in Italy and employs just 1,400 staff out of a total nationwide workforce of 31,000. Fiat claims that, mainly due to its location, manufacturing costs come in at around 1,000 euros per car more than at its other plants.

Workers have been staging protests as they gear up once again to fight for its future. Termini Imerese, which has previously assembled the Fiat Punto and Panda models, has constantly been threatened with closure and has been saved from the brink several times this decade. Marchionne sees consolidation in Italy being the key to the future success of Fiat, something he feels that has in North America been satisfactorily indentified and addressed by the wholesale restructuring of the Chrysler Group this summer.  During an event last Friday Marchionne said that keeping all of Fiat's factories open "is a request that is not feasible. He added: "the world has changed profoundly, we cannot go back to a reality that doesn't exist anymore." The influential figure of Fiat Group Chairman Luca di Montezemolo has publicly given Marchionne his full support in recent days.

Scajola is keen for the factory to stay open. "It would be crazy to let a pillar of industry like Termini Imerese die. Over time important investments have been made there and everyone tells me that the quality of the work is very good," said Scajola this week while on a trade mission in the United Arab Emirates with ICE and Simest. The unions are worried that the ending of car production, Fiat has announced that Termini Imerese will be “reassigned” unspecified duties with the Group when the Ypsilon is wound down, will see the factory lose its focus and slide towards closure.

As well as the closure-earmarked Sicilian plant there are major fears for the future of the Pomigliano d’Arco factory near Naples which is regarded as Fiat’s least-efficient production site. Like Termini Imerese, this plant is also located in an unemployment black spot. The mainstay of the factory over the last decade has been the Alfa 147 but with this model’s production tailing off ahead of the arrival of its successor, the Milano, early next year the factory has been left with just the niche Alfa 159, 159 Sportwagon and GT Coupé models. The Milano will be built elsewhere. There is rumour that Pomigliano d’Arco could be assigned production of the Fiat Panda which could also signal a gradual wind-down. Some jobs have been moved to Turin in recent weeks and there have been protests at the plant, which was built by Alfa Romeo in the early 1970s, this month.