Most motorists understandably give little thought to where their cars are built, or the politics behind the decision as to which plant is used. But the decision by Fiat to build its new Panda in Italy, instead of one of its other, cheaper plants outside their homeland could arguably affect how successful the new car is.
In recent years, Europe’s – and indeed the globe’s – big car makers have all been looking to developing (or ‘not quite fully developed’) countries in order to find cheap, non-unionised labour with which to build their cars. While Fiat has also successfully manufactured cars outside Italy – most notably in Tychy in Poland, where 6,000 workers make 450,000 vehicles a year – it has decided to build the new model at its plant near Naples. The new plant has been re-vamped and its workers re-trained, in a programme that cost around 900 million euros.
With a target of 300,000 cars a year to be produced by 5000 workers, the re-fitted Naples facility is nowhere near as cheap as building in Poland would be, but Fiat has a long observed obligation to its home country.
Volkswagen, by contrast, will be building its new Up model – which will compete directly with the Panda – in non-unionised Slovakia. For Fiat’s sake, one wonders if the combination of using the name Panda – which was once perhaps more commonly associated with the term ‘car breakdown’ – and high production overheads, won’t dampen the success of what should be a great Italian car.
Breakdown Cover from 
