Fiat SpA, Italy's biggest manufacturer, will proceed with a 700 million-euro ($875 million) investment to produce its Panda model at a domestic plant, even though it drew opposition from a large union.
Chief Executive Office Sergio Marchionne clarified Fiat's plan for its Pomigliano factory near Naples, taking the unusual step of writing a four-page letter to all of the Turin-based company's employees.
"I write to you as a man who has and still believes firmly in the possibility of building together, in Italy, something great, something better and long-lasting," Marchionne said in the letter distributed by Fiat via e-mail following a meeting today with labor unions.
In a referendum last month about 60 percent of workers at Pomigliano, Fiat's least productive factory, supported the company's proposals to add shifts, shorten sick leave and reduce strikes as part of a plan to transfer Panda production from Poland.
Four out of five unions representing the 5,000 workers at the site backed Fiat's plan. Marchionne wanted support from all five of the labor groups.
"The real objective of the project is to plug the gap in competitiveness with other countries and bring Fiat to an efficiency level that guarantees Italy a solid auto industry and all of our workers a more secure future," Marchionne wrote.
Fiat currently produces Alfa Romeo models at the Pomigliano plant.
