Fiat invests EUR 100 million in Tychy plant
The Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Company (FCA) has invested nearly EUR 100 million in its Tychy factory pending this year's production startup of new versions of the Fiat 500 and Lancia Ypsilon cars produced in the plant.
"An additional EUR 60 million worth of investments has been carried out at our suppliers," Tychy FCA Poland financial head Czeslaw Swistak told reporters.
The new version of Tychy's flagship model, the Fiat 500, is in production since June. According to Fiat engineers the new "Five Hundred" has been changed in 40 percent. Modified were almost 1.8 thousand elements.
The new version of the Lancia Ypsilon Dip, whose production was launched recently, is scheduled to make its debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show in a few days.
"The car underwent radical modernisation at the expense of tens of millions of euros. The new Ypsilon has a new front and back, new bumpers, a new dashboard, radio and navigation system, as wel as numerous accessories", said plant director Antoni Gren. Tychy launched production on the Lancia Ypsilon in 2011.
Representatives of FCA Poland officially confirmed that the plant will close down the production of the Ford Ka in the first half of 2016. The Ford Ka was produced in Tychy since 2008.
According to Gren the plant's 2015 annual production will be slightly lower than last year, mainly due to the reduced production of the Ford Ka, and will reach approx. 303 thousand cars compared to more than 313.9 thousand in 2014, including around 198,000 Fiat 500s.
The Tychy plant, directly employing around 3.4 thousand, is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. The first Fiat 126 car rolled off the assembly line on September 18, 1975. In the past 40 years the Tychy plant produced a total of almost 9.2 million cars, including over 2.1 million Fiat Pandas and 2.1 million Fiat 126s. The plant also has manufactured the Fiat 500, the Fiat Seicento and the Fiat Cinquecento models.
FCA is Poland's largest auto exporter. (PAP)
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