Fiat’s new venture in Russia with OAO Sollers plans to produce as many as 150,000 Jeep SUVs a year, the Russian business newspaper Vedomosti reported Wednesday, citing analysts who participated in a company conference call.
Chrysler, under Fiat control, is looking largely at Jeep to help it more than double its international sales to 500,000 vehicles a year by 2014.
Fiat/Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne just signed the deal with Sollers last week, cancelling his keynote speech before the Economic Club of Chicago in conjunction with the Chicago auto show to do so.
The Fiat 500 will go on sale in the U.S. by the end of the year, according to Dodge Car Brand CEO Ralph Giles in a speech to the Economic Club of Chicago.
Ralph stated that the Grand Cherokee will be on sale within the next three months. Given how desperate Chrysler is for new products before they run short on funding and FIAT runs short on patience, it could be a great step forward for the automaker.
Source: Jalopnik
Since the merger of Fiat and Chrysler we have been expecting some major changes in terms of leading executives. Recently Lancia chief executive Olivier Fancois was named as the head of the Chrysler division. Now similar reports have placed Abarth, Maserati and Alfa Romeo under common leadership. That leadership is by Harald Wester. In his new role, Wester replaces Sergio Cravero, who himself was recently promoted from the brand’s communications directorate to serve as a replacement for the departing Luca de Meo who will change to a new role as head of product planning for the entire Fiat Group.
As a result, we can expect to see a deeper level of collaboration between these performance-oriented brands within the expanding Fiat empire. Details in the press release after the jump.
