A factory that assembled a string models that were integral to Fiat Group's sales successes - such as the Fiat 126, Panda and Punto, as well most recently Lancia's Ypsilon supermini - is now finally idled. Fiat consistently claimed that assembling cars at the island plant, which offers no bridge to the mainland and an under developed supplier base, added around 800 euros to the cost of each car coming off the production lines.

However the closure of Termini Imerese is likely to cause significant hardship in a region already blighted by poverty, high unemployment and offers very few prospects, and is also a stark reminder that the relationship that Fiat traditionally enjoyed with its workforce has recently been jettisoned. The signs are now being removed at the factory and the shutters put up.

The last car, an Ypsilon, came off the lines on November 24th and all workers were laid off after that date. DR Motor leads out a group of five companies that will take over the premises. Less promisingly, despite the long lead time since Fiat announced it would close Termini Imerese, an operating strategy isn't in place yet. DR Motor claims that its plans will be announced on January 19.

However with immediate effect, 1,417 workers employed by Fiat Group Automobiles at Termini Imerese are being laid off and 133 from the serving facility, Plastic Components. According to the December 1 agreement, the new company will reemploy 30 percent of the workers (425 from FGA and 40 from Plastic Components), either directly at DR Motor or through the other companies involved. The December 1 agreement also confirms the handover of the plant to DR Motor as well as incentives for 640 of the workers.

Massimo Di Risio, the entrepreneur who set up DR Motor in 2006 to assemble selected models from China's Chery Automobile in Italy from CKD kits, has ambitious plans. While Termini Imerese only assembled one model and recently ran at around a third of capacity, Di Risio plans to build a range of up to six DR Motor-badged Chery models. However many quarters suggest that jumping on the opportunity of Termini Imerese is more attractive to obtain grants that will come along with the venture as DR Motor has struggled to make any impact so far. DR Motor's plan for Termini Imerese was chosen after a process led by by the Italian Economy Minister, Paolo Romani, and the President of the Sicilian Region, Raffaele Lombardo. The location of Sicily has uncanny resemblance to DR Motor's current assembly base in equally less-industrialised Municipality of Macchia d'Isernia close to Isernia in the Molise Region where there are questions being raised over a 5 million euros grant that was given by the authorities as well as over wages to staff which have reportedly not been paid for the last two months.

In pure numbers terms, the portents aren't promising for a future DR Motor-led revival of the Termini Imerese plant. In 2010 the Sicilian facility built around fifty thousand Ypsilons, last year's production of the Lancia B-segment hatchback is likely to be a bit higher thanks to the arrival of the new model (assembly of the new version now takes place in Poland but sales data doesn't split up the individual proportions of two generations). By contrast for the eleven months from January to November 2011, DR Motor sold just 2,831 cars in Italy, almost a third down on the same period in 2010. For the last month on record, November 2011, DR Motor sold just 126 cars, down by a massive 74 percent on the same month in 2010.