In a meeting held at the Unione Industriale di Torino,
this morning Fiat has presented the trade unions with a
plan for the relaunch of activities at the Officine
Automobilistiche Grugliasco, formerly Carrozzeria
Bertone, which will breath new life into the plant which
has been inactive for several years. A 500 million euro
investment will see this factory become the third in
Italy to join the 20 billion euro "Fabbrica Italia"
project after Mirafiori and Pomigliano d'Arco.
Fiat bought the moribund factory 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 work dried up. Carrozzeria Bertone was the
contract manufacturing arm of Turin-based Gruppo
Bertone; the company's other key division, the designs
tudio 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 when on to
secure the use of Pininfarina's failing contract
manufacturing facility at Grugliasco to launch his bid
to revive the DeTomaso name), other Italian private
equity bidders as well as 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 has 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
today: "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 today says that: "Start of production
is planned for December 2012." It is known that the
development of the project is already at quite an
advanced stage. Fiat adds 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 Quattroporte and
GranTurismo models, are already manufactured at a Fiat
Group Automobiles (FGA) facility within the Grugliasco
industrial complex and then shipped to Modena. Fiat also
adds that: "The company stressed that a prerequisite for
the success of the project was the guarantee of maximum
utilisation of plant capacity and operational
flexibility, supported by a clear and firm commitment
from the trade unions. Fiat indicated its willingness to
begin as soon as possible discussions aimed at agreeing
the conditions necessary for implementation of the
project."
