General Signs that Fiat are wrapping up production on the current Panda?
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General Signs that Fiat are wrapping up production on the current Panda?
Mine must have been one of the last ever made especialy in Active trim (rare with this colour)Derv drinker
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I was looking to change my MJ for another new one in October, but having looked at the Fiat website I see there is limited colours and options now. Also, I believe orders will be declined very soon for non-euro V compliant vehicles as they will not be able to be registered from the 1st Jan 2011. However, Fiat have the 1.3 MJ in Euro V spec but it churns out 95HP, though miles apart I can see this conflicting with the 100hp model.
Like others have said the price is comparable now to other cars like the new Fabia, C3 and the asian offerings and will ceratainly check these out if I can't get the Panda I want.
If I was on the productin line in Poland I would not fear for my job as it seems that Fiat themselves seem very reluctant to move any model production to Italy due to union and working conditions being awkward there, so I can see the Panda being constructed in Poland for a while yet.
Like others have said the price is comparable now to other cars like the new Fabia, C3 and the asian offerings and will ceratainly check these out if I can't get the Panda I want.
If I was on the productin line in Poland I would not fear for my job as it seems that Fiat themselves seem very reluctant to move any model production to Italy due to union and working conditions being awkward there, so I can see the Panda being constructed in Poland for a while yet.
OP
OP
According to the latest news on Italiaspeed Fiat have already planned the moved production of the next Panda. It will be built in Italy at a plant that used to make Alfa Romeos. I can paste a few lines from what Fiat said.
"After more than a fortnight of an ominous silence the Fiat Group has today confirmed in a statement that the less-than-overwhelming vote in favour of its ambitious plans to move production of the A-segment Fiat Panda to the Pomigliano d'Arco near Naples next year through around a 700 million euro investment and a shakeup in working practices is sufficient enough to see the plans go ahead. The vote by workers at the almost-idled Alfa Romeo factory last month to accept a raft of proposals that would see a dramatic increase in shifts, weekend working and measures to tackle absenteeism and strikes, saw a high turnout of 95 percent with 63 percent of the employees voting in favor of the accord and 36 percent against. Fiat Group CEO Sergio Marchionne expressed himself underwhelmed by the size of the vote in favour and in a statement issued in response the Italian carmaker said: "Fiat accepts that it is impossible to find common ground with those parties that are blocking plans for the relaunch of Pomigliano whose arguments, in its view, are merely a pretext.."
Since that statement, issued on June 23, there has been a deafening silence from Fiat's senior management and growing anxiety on the part of the unions and government that Fiat could be set to swap production planning of the next-generation Panda to another location, possibly even the newly-acquired Zastava factory in Serbia. Marchionne has made it clear that there is "no Plan B" for Pomigliano d'Arco which currently builds the Alfa Romeo 159, 159 Sportwagon and GT Coupé in dwindling numbers. The nearly four decade old factory's mainstay had been the C-segment Alfa 147 but with its successor, the newly-launched Giulietta, developed around a Fiat evolved platform and mechanicals its production has been switched to a Fiat factory where it shares the lines with Fiat's Bravo and Lancia's Delta.
However today the Fiat Group removed the lingering axe hanging over the factory and reconfirmed its plans to build the next-generation Panda at Pomigliano d'Arco. "Today a meeting was held in Turin between Fiat and the trade unions CISL-FIM, UIL-UILM and FISMIC," read a statement issued this afternoon in Turin. "Participants at the meeting included the General Secretary of CISL, Raffaele Bonanni, the General Secretary of UIL, Luigi Angeletti, and the Chief Executive of Fiat, Sergio Marchionne. At the meeting the parties agreed to implement the agreement reached with FIM, UILM, FISMIC and UGL on the 15th of June relating to production of the future Panda at Pomigliano d’Arco."
"After more than a fortnight of an ominous silence the Fiat Group has today confirmed in a statement that the less-than-overwhelming vote in favour of its ambitious plans to move production of the A-segment Fiat Panda to the Pomigliano d'Arco near Naples next year through around a 700 million euro investment and a shakeup in working practices is sufficient enough to see the plans go ahead. The vote by workers at the almost-idled Alfa Romeo factory last month to accept a raft of proposals that would see a dramatic increase in shifts, weekend working and measures to tackle absenteeism and strikes, saw a high turnout of 95 percent with 63 percent of the employees voting in favor of the accord and 36 percent against. Fiat Group CEO Sergio Marchionne expressed himself underwhelmed by the size of the vote in favour and in a statement issued in response the Italian carmaker said: "Fiat accepts that it is impossible to find common ground with those parties that are blocking plans for the relaunch of Pomigliano whose arguments, in its view, are merely a pretext.."
Since that statement, issued on June 23, there has been a deafening silence from Fiat's senior management and growing anxiety on the part of the unions and government that Fiat could be set to swap production planning of the next-generation Panda to another location, possibly even the newly-acquired Zastava factory in Serbia. Marchionne has made it clear that there is "no Plan B" for Pomigliano d'Arco which currently builds the Alfa Romeo 159, 159 Sportwagon and GT Coupé in dwindling numbers. The nearly four decade old factory's mainstay had been the C-segment Alfa 147 but with its successor, the newly-launched Giulietta, developed around a Fiat evolved platform and mechanicals its production has been switched to a Fiat factory where it shares the lines with Fiat's Bravo and Lancia's Delta.
However today the Fiat Group removed the lingering axe hanging over the factory and reconfirmed its plans to build the next-generation Panda at Pomigliano d'Arco. "Today a meeting was held in Turin between Fiat and the trade unions CISL-FIM, UIL-UILM and FISMIC," read a statement issued this afternoon in Turin. "Participants at the meeting included the General Secretary of CISL, Raffaele Bonanni, the General Secretary of UIL, Luigi Angeletti, and the Chief Executive of Fiat, Sergio Marchionne. At the meeting the parties agreed to implement the agreement reached with FIM, UILM, FISMIC and UGL on the 15th of June relating to production of the future Panda at Pomigliano d’Arco."
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That's a bit crap. I still reckon there's a chance the old Panda might continue on for a while just like the Seicento and Punto Classic are at the moment.
Its the first marketing campaign of its type apparently, as its also the music video for the new Faithless single! It is for the evo.
Derv drinker
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I'm with 306maxi on this one, irrespective of what Fiat want or agree, it seems the creditors from 2004 will decide where the future production will be conducted as reported by the AFP press on the 31/7/10. They have promised to double investment in Italy providing the unions agree to its terms, as Italy is the only part of Fiats global production which is still not producing profit.
So it seems there is still lots to be decided, and a quick look through google news indicates the workers are not happy with the unions agreeing to the new working practices.
Hopefully, Fiat have seen this coming and are just waiting to see what other manufacturers are going to producer before releasing their Euro V compliant vehicles, it appears the production capability exists it just needs the nod.
So it seems there is still lots to be decided, and a quick look through google news indicates the workers are not happy with the unions agreeing to the new working practices.
Hopefully, Fiat have seen this coming and are just waiting to see what other manufacturers are going to producer before releasing their Euro V compliant vehicles, it appears the production capability exists it just needs the nod.
Seems to me that there needs to be a major cultural change in Italy! Fiat are investing €700m Euro in a plant that is more or less doing nothing in order to guarantee their jobs, and in exchange are asking for their workers to work weekends and not walk out on strike every 5 minutes. They are moving a sucessful proven product from a factory which is surely much more efficient in order to help prop-up the Italian economy.
The workers at Tychy should be commended for their work and the amount they have done to help restore the Fiat brand with the Panda and 500. I only hope that build quality does not suffer from the move to Italy, I certainly feel my Panda is built better than my brothers Grande Punto (both are 2006).
I understand why Fiat may want to move the Panda out of Tychy - they need the capacity for the 500/Ka and its not going to be practical to produce 3 cars on 2 different floor plans (assuming the new Panda gets a new floor pan - do we know this yet?).
The Panda is competing in a very low cost/margin sector. The 107/Aygo are produced in the Czech Republic, the VW Fox in Brazil, and the i10/Picanto in India. If the workforce are going to be able to produce a competitive product they will have to change, like the rest of the world has. Im sure it would have been easy for PSA/Toyota to have produced the c1/107/aygo in France or Japan but it would not have been cost effective. As we have seen in the UK, more and more manufacturing is moving to countries where the workforce will work longer hours for less money as they are grateful to just have a job. However it would seem that some would rather run a good company into the ground than work for reasonable terms and conditions.
The workers at Tychy should be commended for their work and the amount they have done to help restore the Fiat brand with the Panda and 500. I only hope that build quality does not suffer from the move to Italy, I certainly feel my Panda is built better than my brothers Grande Punto (both are 2006).
I understand why Fiat may want to move the Panda out of Tychy - they need the capacity for the 500/Ka and its not going to be practical to produce 3 cars on 2 different floor plans (assuming the new Panda gets a new floor pan - do we know this yet?).
The Panda is competing in a very low cost/margin sector. The 107/Aygo are produced in the Czech Republic, the VW Fox in Brazil, and the i10/Picanto in India. If the workforce are going to be able to produce a competitive product they will have to change, like the rest of the world has. Im sure it would have been easy for PSA/Toyota to have produced the c1/107/aygo in France or Japan but it would not have been cost effective. As we have seen in the UK, more and more manufacturing is moving to countries where the workforce will work longer hours for less money as they are grateful to just have a job. However it would seem that some would rather run a good company into the ground than work for reasonable terms and conditions.
OP
OP
Well I borrowed a 59 plate Punto recently (Punto sound or something?) and it was a terrible car. The switchgear was horrendous and the dash was just a sea of cheap plastic. Even though the Panda is supposed to be Fiats base model I would rather have any Panda than one of those Puntos anyday.
