"This vote will allow for the revamp of one of Italy's most glorious car plants," Fismic union representative Roberto Di Maulo said in a phone interview from Grugliasco. "Workers fought to save their company, and their approval is also a symbolic event

Fiat bought the moribund factory almost two years ago - at the beginning of August 2009 - from the Turin tribunal managing the sale of Gruppo Bertone's assets, the 98 year old design and engineering company having finally filed for bankruptcy after all its work dried up. Carrozzeria Bertone was the contract manufacturing arm of Turin-based Gruppo Bertone; the company's other key division, the design studio Stile Bertone, is now back in the hands of Nuccio's widow Lilli Bertone along with the rights to the name, neither of which Fiat was interesting in acquiring.

In securing the plant, which is quite modern by Turinese standards, Fiat fended off bids from entrepreneur and former Fiat manager Gianmario Rossignolo (who went on to secure the use of Pininfarina's failing contract manufacturing facility at Grugliasco, just a couple of kilometres away, to launch his bid to revive the DeTomaso name) as well as other Italian private equity bidders and external interest from both Spain and China.

The tribunal was in the end swayed by Fiat's bid believing it would be the one most likely to secure the long term employment prospects of the 1,100 staff, most of whom are currently recipients of state-supported temporary redundancy scheme. The factory had stood idle for several years, its last assembly contract being to build convertible models for GM's Opel/Vauxhall division while the last cars to leave the plant, which is located just a few kilometres from Fiat's own Mirafiori complex, was a limited edition cosmetic upgrade for MINI's John Cooper Works, which was called the 'Grand Prix'.

According to the press release issued in Turin by the Fiat Group when the plans were announced on February 16: "The plan centers around a 500 million euro investment (to begin in the second half of 2011) for production of a new E-segment Maserati for international distribution." Originally this niche luxury executive model, dubbed by the press as the "baby Quattroporte", was proposed to be built at the Chrysler Group's Brampton Assembly Plant, which is located in Ontario, Canada, the new car to be spun off the architecture of the now heavily facelifted Chrysler 300 and its close platform sister, the Dodge Charger, both of which were launched at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit last month.

The press release from Fiat added that: "Start of production is planned for December 2012." However almost immediately was the deal announced than it floundered after strong union resistance to the sweeping new conditions and it has taken three months of negotiations to finally arrive at an agreement between the two parties this morning so that initial production target date is likely to fall back. However it is known that the development of the project is already at quite an advanced stage. Fiat added that: "Once fully operational, the plant will produce up to 50,000 cars per year with a progressive return to full utilisation of the workforce." When Fiat bought the plant the year before last it stated that production capacity was around 48,000 units per year, while the unions claimed the factory, which is a surprising large complex for a niche company, could build up to 100,000 cars per year. While Maserati numbers will be tiny, the architecture will also underpin new models for the Fiat and Chrysler Groups.

Fiat says that at the present moment that Maserati's plant in Modena isn't under threat by this development, and "will continue its existing production activities." Shells for the Trident's two models, the F-segment Quattroporte and GranTurismo models, are already manufactured at a Fiat Group Automobiles (FGA) facility within the Grugliasco industrial complex and then shipped to Modena.