Fiat to Move Punto Production to Poland

Fiat SpA plans to invest about €567 million to prepare its factory in Tychy, Poland, to build a replacement for the Punto small car starting in 2016, according to Puls Biznesu.

The Polish newspaper says almost all the new models will be exported, including some to North America.

Unidentified sources tell Automotive News Europe the upgraded Tychy plant will have capacity to make 180,000 Punto replacements per year. They describe the new model as a longer and wider version of the three-door Fiat 500 minicar made there and say the car could be renamed the 500 Plus.

Moving Punto production to Poland from Melfi, Italy, will increase the Italian factory's capacity to make the Jeep Renegade mini-SUV, ANE says. The new Jeep will share its platform with the Fiat 500X variant also scheduled to go into production at Melfi later this year.