Fiat Confirms Mirafiori Plant Will Build Maserati SUVs

Fiat SpA plans to invest almost €1 billion to prepare its Mirafiori factory in Turin, Italy, to make the company's upcoming Maserati SUV and other models.

Fiat said in January that the flagship Mirafiori facility would build new Alfa Romeo and Maserati SUVs, the latter for export to the U.S. But in July the company froze new investments in Italy after an unfavorable labor decision from the country's Constitutional Court.

CEO Sergio Marchionne complained that the ruling jeopardized Fiat's low-cost labor strategy. The company recommitted to the Mirafiori investment after the plant's seven unions signed a new contract this week that sets more flexible work rules.

Deutsche Bank has estimated that the Mirafiori factory is operating at less than one-quarter of its annual capacity of 300,000 vehicles. Fiat originally intended to make small Fiat and Jeep crossover vehicles there. But it announced in December that it would instead produce those models at its facility in Melfi, Italy.

The Maserati SUV, introduced as the Kubang concept in 2011, had been slated for production at a Chrysler Group plant in Detroit. But those plans were abandoned a year ago.