Fiat 500 production to be increased

It should come as no shock that the gorgeous little Fiat 500 is selling like hotcakes. So much so, that Fiat are having to increase production to keep up with the higher than anticipated demand for the very cool little new kid on the block.

Fiat originally planned to build 58,000 500’s this year but is now upping production to between 65 and 67,000 units. A production run of 140,000 units is being forecast for the 2008 production year.

The Fiat 500 was launched in Italy earlier this month and has only just arrived in France and already Fiat dealers have sold out the entire years production, which may see the little tackers Australian debut delayed somewhat…

“With minimal investment, from September our Tychy plant (in Poland) will expand 500 production from 120,000 units to 140,000 units on an annual basis. As of yesterday, we had received 57,000 dealer orders for the 500, of which 51,000 are from Italy and 6,000 are from France,” said Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne.

It is quite staggering to think that 57,000 people ordered a 500 in the space of a couple of weeks. In order to keep up with the demand Fiat has plans to expand their Tychy manufacturing plant which will soon also be the centre of production for the next generation Ford Ka. Manufacturing capacity of the Tychy plant will almost double by the end of 2008 rising from its current capacity of 285,000 units annually to 500,000 units.

It just goes to show you that great car design will always be in demand.

Source : Automotive News Europe