Fiat hopes to boost car production in Italy by more than half to as much as 1 million units in 2012, but it will need huge investment, government support and greater worker flexibility, its CEO said on Tuesday.
Sergio Marchionne, who also heads U.S. car maker Chrysler, outlined a radical plan for production in Italy to government and union representatives on Tuesday as he seeks to ensure a strong future for auto production in the country.
Marchionne said that Fiat could bring production of its Panda small car to the Pomigliano plant in southern Italy, currently working at about a third of capacity.
"Building the future Panda at Pomigliano would guarantee very high volumes ... (but) you are talking about a radical intervention which would require huge resources."
Industry Minister Claudio Scajola, who was at the meeting, has said he wants Fiat to produce more than 900,000 cars in Italy.
"We appreciate Fiat's intention ... to increase Italian production by 50 percent, as the government has requested," Scajola said in a statement after Tuesday's meeting.
The minister called for Fiat, unions and local authorities to meet urgently on the future of a plant in Sicily which Marchionne confirmed will stop car production in December 2011. He first outlined these plans in June.
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