Things seem to be getting better and better for the Fiat Group as the Italians just announced that this year’s initial production for the new 500 has been sold out in just three weeks! “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 in a call with financial analysts yesterday. Due to the unusual success of the new 500, Fiat will raise production in the Tychy plant from this September building between 65,000 and 67,000 units this year, and 140,000 units a year from 2008. -Continued after the jump
Bear in mind that Fiat also builds the Panda at the Polish plant and that from autumn 2008, Tychy will also be responsible for the forthcoming Ford Ka mini car which is based on the Fiat 500. In all, within a year Fiat expects Tychy to be able to build 140,000 units a year of the new 500 along with 120,000 units of the Ford Ka and 240,000 units of the Fiat Panda.