Report: Fiat union passes contract, paving way for Jeeps to be built in Italy
 

Filed under: SUV, Europe, Plants/Manufacturing, Crossover, Chrysler, Jeep, Alfa Romeo, Fiat

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog....jeep-badge.jpg

Baseball, apple pie, Stars and Stripes... and Jeep. What do all of these things have in common? They are all classically American. Or are they? It seems that future Jeeps, specifically the replacements for our current Compass and Patriot, will likely be assembled in Italy on the same lines Fiat uses to build Alfa Romeo models. These Jeeps would then be imported to America.

The plan to build Jeeps in Italy is moving forward after workers at a Fiat plant in Turin, Italy, voted 54-percent in favor of a new contract that, among other things, places limits on workers' ability to strike or just not show up for work around holidays (yes, seriously). In exchange for such concessions, Fiat has pledged to pump a billion euros into the plant to tool up for new Alfa Romeo and Jeep models.

This plant is expected to be building salable Alfa Romeo and Jeep vehicles by the fourth quarter of 2012. Half the production is earmarked for European sales and the other half will be exported to North America.

[Source: Automotive News - sub. req'd | Image: Chris Shunk/AOL]Report: Fiat union passes contract, paving way for Jeeps to be built in Italy originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 19 Jan 2011 08:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.



Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments



More...