With the future of the
Mirafiori plant in Turin once again in the spotlight as rumours abound about the
latest stalled deal to keep it alive, Fiat has once again changed its mind about
the facility’s fate – this time, it proposes to build a ‘baby’ Jeep there, spun
off Fiat’s B-segment architecture.
There had been much
speculation in recent months that the previously-announced decision to build two
new C-segment SUVs at the plant for Jeep and Alfa Romeo – having originally been
switched to Mirafiori from an original intention to build them in the U.S. –
would itself be reversed and the cars built in North America after all. North
America is Jeep’s primary market, and it thus made sense to locate production in
the region where most sales would be attained, while projected volumes for Alfa
Romeo’s version were always on the optimistic side in any case. Off-the-record
briefings had also suggested currency fluctuations could play a role. That
decision now seems to have been confirmed, with Fiat confirming its intention to
install “the most updated version of one of its three main architectures at
Mirafiori on which various nameplates for its various brands will be produced”
from 2012, with “commencement of production of the first nameplate, a Jeep SUV,
is expected in the second half of 2013.”
That architecture will be the
forthcoming ‘SUSW’ (Small US Wide) platform, a widened and US-compliant
derivative of the ‘Small’ platform (which underpins, amongst other models, the
Fiat Punto and Alfa MiTo). The SUSW architecture will debut on the new
Serbian-built ‘Ellezero’ minivans, set to debut next year as a replacement for
the Fiat Idea and Lancia Musa – themselves two of the three models currently
manufactured at Mirafiori.
The future of Mirafiori has
been in a constant state of flux since the first presentations outlining plans
to integrate Fiat and Chrysler were outlined in 2009. A deal thrashed out with
the unions at the factory foresaw a range of vehicles being spun off the C-Evo
Wide/CUSW architecture, with the Jeep C-SUV, a replacement for the
Compass/Patriot twins, set to be the first out of the blocks. Instead, all these
plans now go out the window, and the proposal today considers the development of
a new ‘baby’ Jeep to take the off-road brand into B-segment for the first time,
along with the possibility of an in-house replacement for the Fiat Sedici
crossover (the current version is contract-manufactured by Suzuki in Hungary).
Also to be spun off SUSW will be the next-generation Alfa Romeo MiTo, with the
statement issued in Turin today noting that “production of the Alfa Romeo Mito,
including new and updated versions, is confirmed at Mirafiori.”
“This is an important step in
our plans to re-industrialise our Italian manufacturing backbone in view of
current market developments and the increased distribution reach provided by
Chrysler Group,” said Sergio Marchionne, Chief Executive of Fiat and Chrysler
Group, in a written statement. “This leading-edge architecture will allow us to
provide the most updated platforms for the development of our brands, and more
importantly, will allow us to access the full powertrain offerings of both Fiat
and Chrysler.”
The big worry for the unions
at Mirafiori is that this latest projected plan (in sum, set to consist of a
Jeep B-segment, future Sedici, and the current and future MiTo) is unlikely to
stack up in volume terms – or, even if it did, would not be able to sustain a
plant of Mirafiori’s immense capacity. The saga over the historic plant’s future
is doubtless set to undergo a further series of twists and turns before matters
become clearer.
