 |
|
A ceremony has been held at the GAC Fiat
plant in Changsha, in the Chinese province
of Hunan, to mark the completion of the new
factory and the rollout of the Fiat Viaggio,
the first Fiat model to be produced in China
under the new joint venture. |
|
|
|
A
ceremony has been held at the GAC Fiat plant in
Changsha, in the Chinese province of Hunan, to mark the
completion of the new factory and the rollout of the Fiat
Viaggio,
the first Fiat model to be produced in China under the
new joint venture.
Sergio
Marchionne, CEO of Fiat and Chairman and CEO of
Chrysler, Michael Manley, COO for Fiat-Chrysler APAC
Region, Zhang Fangyou, Chairman of Guangzhou Automobile
Group Corporation (GAC), Jack Cheng, General Manager of
GAC Fiat, and Jiang Ping, Executive Deputy General
Manager of GAC Fiatwere present to celebrate the
occasion.
Also in attendance at the
inauguration ceremony were senior government officials
for both Hunan and Guangdong provinces and state
ministries, as well as Attilio Massimo Iannucci, the
Italian Ambassador to China.
The new plant, which is located
in the Changsha Economic& Technical Development
Zone, incorporates World Class
Manufacturing, one of the highest production standards
in the world, which is a process being adopted at all
Fiat and Chrysler plants worldwide.
The new plant, which covers
730,000 square meters, is part of the 50:50 joint
venture between Fiat and GAC, China’s sixth largest
automotive manufacturer which produces cars, buses and
commercial vehicles. The joint venture was founded in
March 2010 with investment totaling RMB 5 billion. This
is Fiat's second decent stab at trying to gain a
foothold in China, the world's largest car market, after
the dissolving the Nanjing-Fiat joint venture and
following on from abortive talks with Chery Automobile.
The first Fiat model to be produced in China under this
new joint venture is the Viaggio, a lightly reworked
version of the Alfa Romeo Giulietta-evolved Dodge Dart
which debuted at the Beijing Auto Show in the spring.
The Viaggio most significantly gets a boot, certain
front clip changes and some changes under the skin to
reduce production costs.
|
|
|
