Fiat will build Jeeps in Russia

[TerryMason]

Italian news paper Corriere della Sera reports that Fiat has signed a letter of intent with Russia’s Sberbank for a joint venture that will produce and sell Jeeps in the country.

Fiat and Chrysler Group want to expand their presence in growth markets like Russia to offset slow growth in Europe.

The deal has been working since last year when an alliance with OAO Sollers, Russia’s second-largest automaker, fell through in February. Sollers went with Ford, instead.

A Russian official said a deal was likely in which Fiat would work with a Russian partner to build a major new car plant in St. Petersburg during the first quarter of 2012. Various sources identified the partner as Sberbank.

Corriere said the letter signed last night proposes a joint venture with Fiat taking an 80 percent share. Sberbank would finance the project by offering a credit line to the new company.

Corriere said the joint-venture would invest 850 million euros ($1.14 billion) in the St. Petersburg plant which would produce 120,000 cars a year. It said a second plant would be opened in Moscow (most likely the ZiL factory as reported here on Allpar.com).

Fiat had no comment.

Article from Allpar

 

[superj]

oh boy, our historical jeeps being built in the old communist country. that is crazy

 

[bugleboy]

what model would they be making? all of them? wranglers? libertys? etc. and will they look different? like the cherokee 2500 in asia differs from our american cherokee, im wondering if there will be any major body or design changes

 

[clydethepirate]

oh boy, our historical jeeps being built in the old communist country. that is crazy

They say all things come full circle.
This is dissapointing to me. I wish industrial, and financial evolution would leave the Jeep alone.

 

[Ghost Rider]

So I guess my tax money went to help Chrysler stay afloat long enough so th Russian can now make a profit from my money....... I will remember this in November.

 

[duckkillerclyde]

In mother Russia, you don't drive the Jeep, the Jeep drives you.

 

[TerryMason]

Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but this doesn't seem that bad to me. As long as FIAT / Chrysler keeps US built cars in the USA, and builds a Russian plant to build and sell Jeeps to the Russians it seems like a win-win to me. More Jeeps for everyone, and the money gets mailed back to us.

I don't see us importing Russian built Jeeps any time soon.

 

[duckkillerclyde]

Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but this doesn't seem that bad to me. As long as FIAT / Chrysler keeps US built cars in the USA, and builds a Russian plant to build and sell Jeeps to the Russians it seems like a win-win to me. More Jeeps for everyone, and the money gets mailed back to us.

I don't see us importing Russian built Jeeps any time soon.

I don't see GM being built in Mexico and imported........oh wait :bomb:

 

[duckkillerclyde]

In soviet russia, men work for a daily ration of food. In the United States, Unions ensure to send jobs over seas....

 

[superj]

i am not sure its bad, but it sure sounds funny that the vehicle that won the war is now being built by the war's losers.

i think it will be beneficial for the companies and will be a huge benefit for our russian friends and family members. we think life sucks cause gas is so expensive but it really sucks for the people who live in russia because they are having a hard time getting food and stuff like that so i don;t have trouble with russians building jeeps. everyone wants to feed their kids.

and our jeeps are still made here in the western countries. they will probably only sell theirs over there (unless the unions run the wages up so high its cheaper for fiat/chrysler to import the russian jeeps)