Chrysler plant in Mexico to build Fiat subcompact
March 9th, 2011 - 11:39 am ICT by IANSMexico City, March 9 (IANS/EFE) The Fiat 500 subcompact is to be manufactured at a Chrysler plant in the central Mexican city of Toluca, the CEO of Chrysler Group LLC and Fiat SpA said.
“To be able to prepare the Fiat 500 plant, we’re investing $550 million and creating more than 600 new direct jobs, compared with the 400 that we had estimated originally,” Sergio Marchionne said in a ceremony at the plant, where he was joined by Mexican President Felipe Calderon.
Marchionne said that the Fiat 500 is “tangible evidence” of the alliance between Chrysler and Fiat to adapt the automobile to the needs of the US market, although he added that it will also be exported to South America and China.
“Mexico is in an ideal position for production of this car because of free trade agreements with neighbours to both the north and the south,” the CEO of the two automakers said.
He said that the Toluca plant “is the only one in all of North America that will build the Fiat 500 and it’s the only one in the world that is producing the Dodge Journey”.
He noted that Fiat-Chrysler employs a total of 7,000 people at six plants in Mexico.
Calderon, meanwhile, emphasised that this “is the first Fiat vehicle to be completely produced in Mexico”.
The Mexican leader also underlined the positive elements of this news and said that the automotive industry in Mexico is a fundamental pillar of development, representing “18 percent of the manufacturing GDP… (and) it has become an engine of economic growth”.
–IANS/EFE
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