There is no postponement of the September launch of Fiat's new 500L minivan even with the likelihood of delays in the infrastructure of its plant in Serbia where the model is produced, a company spokesman said. According to reports from Italian media, Serbia’s new government is late in paying 60 million euro ($75.10 million) to Fiat for the plant. It has also yet to build an access road that links the plant to the main highway. The factory is located in Kragujevac, which is 150km south of Belgrade. About one billion euros have been spent by Fiat and the Serbian government on the plant, which started operations on April 14. It is scheduled to employ 2,400 people, which rolls out up to 200,000 cars annually. The spokesman said that the infrastructure problems won’t lead to any delay in the 500L production. The spokesman also said that a "fact finding" meeting has been set for Wednesday between Fiat Vice-Chairman Alfredo Altavilla and Serbian politicians. The fourth variant of the 500 minicar range is the 500L, which will join the 500 hatchback, Abarth performance version and 500C convertible. It will start selling this September in Italy and France. It will become available in the other parts of Europe this October. It has a starting price of 15,550 euros. Sales in North America and maybe even in Asia will start in 2013.
Delays in the infrastructure of Fiat plant in Serbia will not affect 500l launch
by Andrew Christian, Email, 28 Aug, 2012
