Serbian mobile phone operator Vip mobile has taken delivery of a fleet of forty Fiat Punto Classic models for official used that are powered by liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) produced in the Kragujevac factory of Fiat Automobili Srbija. This is another confirmation of the successful cooperation of Vip and domestic manufacturers that creates strong business relationship with positive influence on the growth of domestic production and overall economic development.

Vip mobile is a private mobile operator, the owner of the third mobile telephony license in Serbia for GSM and UMTS networks and exclusive partner of Vodafone in Serbia. It is a member of Mobilkom Austria Group, which caters for more than 18.8 million users across eight countries in the region.

Vip mobile, as the largest Greenfield investment in the country to-date, has established cooperation with over 100 domestic companies and thus directly employed 1,500 people, since its arrival to the Serbian market in December 2006. Fiat Automobili Srbija was founded in 2008 as a joint venture between Fiat Group and the Republic of Serbia, with the purpose of establishing a production base for new and modern cars for the world market, with a capacity of 200.000 units per year.

”We have decided to purchase Fiat Punto [Classic] cars because they have proved to be high quality and reliable vehicles. We find it very commendable that Fiat Automobili Srbija has started production of liquefied petroleum gas based vehicles, since it is environmentally acceptable and in accordance with EU standards, and will therefore increase opportunities for their placement in foreign markets. Our business policy is to enhance collaboration with local partners in order to support development of local economy as much as possible, and we are very satisfied with the level of professionalism and service quality they’ve shown by now," said Roland Haidner, CFO Vip mobile.

“We are glad to start the collaboration with Vip mobile as dynamic and efficient company, which has shown to appreciate the value proposition of our cars. In the first year of activity Fiat Automobili Srbija produced over 16,000 units of [the] Punto [Classic] in petrol, diesel and LPG version which quality was fully recognized by our customers'” added Giovanni De Filippis, CFO Fiat Automobili Srbjia.

Differences between the Punto driven on gasoline are visible in the engine bay, in the boot and also on the dashboard. In addition to smaller emissions of carbon dioxide, exhaust gases from the engine with LPG also contain lesser amounts of other harmful gases. Environmental suitability is only one of the advantages of Punto on LPG, while another one is that driving on this fuel brings significant savings compared to drive using petrol.