The new Fiat 500X SUV and a new baby Jeep SUV will start production in early 2014 as part of a £810m investment at the Melfi factory, the company announced today.
The move marks the first big boost in Fiat’s plan to move away from building mass-market cars in Western Europe and towards upmarket models with higher profit margins.
The first model off the line will be the new Jeep. Only available with all-wheel drive, it will be sold worldwide, with Melfi the only production source. After the 500X, a third model will be added in 2015 to replace the ageingPunto, though it will not be a conventional supermini and is intended to command a more premium price. All three models are based on Fiat’s new ‘Small Wide’ platform, which currently underpins the 500L MPV.
The complete re-building of the Melfi facility (which will see 500 new welding robots, a new paint shop, new panel stamping facilities and new assembly area) will eventually allow up to 1600 vehicles to be built on a three-shift pattern. Fiat says that the new production lines will be flexible enough to build four models, so another 500L-based model looks to be on schedule for 2016.
Fiat says that it will introduce 19 ‘made-in-Italy’ models by 2106. Aside from the four compact models at Melfi, there will also be nine new Alfa Romeos and six Maseratis. Fiat’s budget models - the Panda and smaller 500 models - will eventually be made outside Western Europe where build costs are lower. The 500L is already made in Serbia, at what was the Zastava plant.
This is the new Fiat 500X, which will go in sale in around 18 months' time, replacing the Fiat Sedici and becoming the fifth member of theFiat 500 family.
Journalists attending the first drive of the new Fiat 500L last week were given this sneak preview of the new model.
Based on the same Punto-derived platform as the 500L, the 500X project will also sire a version for Jeep, Fiat’s US sister brand.
According to industry reports, the 500X and Jeep will be built at Fiat’s Mirafiori plant and the Italians are predicting as many as 280,000 combined global sales for the vehicles.
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