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Fiat has swiftly
hit back at the report in La Repubblica newspaper
yesterday commenting in a statement that it was "premature
and not based on fact" and pointing to the carmaker's use of
the Italian government's temporary redundancy scheme to
avoid permanent job losses. Meanwhile the ANSA news
agency quoted Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne as saying: "We are
still working; it's just speculation in the papers and
whatever I might say would be incomplete."
"In relation to
comments published in today's edition of la Repubblica
on a supposed spin-off of
the automobiles business," read a statement issued by Fiat
Group in Turin. "Fiat can only reiterate the content of the
press release issued on March 6th, at the request of Consob,
that the Group will present its 2010-2014 Strategic Plan on
the 21st of April.
"Any
decisions relating to implementation of the Strategic Plan
will be approved by the Board of Directors and communicated
to the market in accordance with the applicable regulatory
requirements. As such, any comments published regarding a
supposed extraordinary transaction, as well as the nature,
timing, scope and value of such transaction is purely
conjecture and originates from sources external to the
Group.
"With
regard to rumours reported by the paper concerning
production plans for Italy, Fiat confirms that it presented
its 2-year industrial plan (2010-2011) during the meeting
with the government and trade unions at Palazzo Chigi on the
22nd of December. On that occasion, the product plan, which
includes models derived from Chrysler platforms, and
production allocation for each model by plant were presented
in detail.
"As
already announced, the plan calls for a significant
financial commitment by Fiat over the next two years in
Italy, where two-thirds of the more than €8 billion planned
for capital investment and research and development globally
will be spent. It should be noted that, despite the extreme
difficulties being experienced in automotive markets
internationally, Fiat has taken all possible steps to
mitigate the impacts to its employees and utilised 30
million hours under temporary layoff schemes in 2009 in
order to avoid permanent redundancies. At this time, the
Group is working on preparation of the 2010-2014 Strategic
Plan, therefore, speculative comments which may appear in
the press are premature and not based on fact" concluded the
Fiat statement.
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