Officials at Fiat Auto Poland's Tychy plant have been quoted as stating that some Fiat Panda and 500 production will be moved to a Fiat site in Southern Italy. Photo: Bogusław Korzeniowski.

Officials at Fiat Auto Poland's Tychy plant have been quoted as stating that some Fiat Panda and 500 production will be moved to a Fiat site in Italy. The reports come from Polish automotive market research institute Samar and the respected radio station PIN 102FM.

There have been persistent rumours in recent months that the Termini Imerese plant in Sicily, which currently builds the Lancia Ypsilon, was being considered to ease 500 demand. These new reports from Poland though indicate that other sites on the mainland, including Melfi (which builds the Grande Punto) and Cassino (Bravo/Croma), are being considered. However, this is also the first time that it has been suggested that some Panda production could also be transferred away from Tychy.

So far, the Polish Fiat site at Tychy has been Fiat's only operation worldwide supplying both car models. Since the introduction of the 500, unexpectedly high demand has forced Fiat to upwardly revise production targets for the recent Car of the Year award winner. Next year's output could be as high as 190,000 units.

On top of this the factory builds the best selling A-segment Panda model as well as smaller numbers of the venerable 600. In 2008 the next generation Ford Ka will be come on stream at Tychy; its development has been carried out in conjunction with the 500 project, and both use the Panda's underpinnings and mechanicals.

When production was kicked off at Tychy, there was talk that Fiat had picked the Polish site because of the country's labour costs that were lower than Italy's. However, now some of the volume will be moved to an Italian site. In the meantime, Fiat Auto Poland unionists have started a preliminary strike action, demanding more pay. Workers say the company has already promised them a pay rise before eventually scrapping the deal.

Source: Samar