The agreement seemed ready, such to transform Sergio Marchionne’s denial into a real cold shower: the large relaunch plan for the Sicilian plant of Termini Imerese will not take place.

The managing director of the Fiat group then calmed everyone, underlining that 500 million euro will, however, be invested to acquire the assembly chain required for a new car, substituting the current Lancia Ypsilon with a relative hiring plan of 500 employees. Moreover the colossal 1.1 million euro renewal plan (opening of a second line of production which will increase manufacturing levels to 200,000 cars annually) would have been abandoned in the face of conditions judged “unfavourable”, such as to not reach an agreement on the 430 million euro of public assistance.

With thanks to bibo

Via | ccfa

Continue reading: Fiat: no mega-plan for Termini Imerese

A few hours ago with the words “Fiat reconfirms its objectives for 2008″, the Torino based company announced that it will resume production of its 1.3 M-jet diesel engine, only three days after they announced the production halt due to anomalies in a few externally sourced components.

The Polish plant at Bielsko Biala will return to normal service, with Fiat Powertrain claiming to have fully resolved the quality problems and confirming that it will resume production of the cars that have the unit fitted by February the 26th.

The 1.3 Multijet engine is used in all the mainstays of the Fiat Group: the Panda, Punto, Grande Punto, Ciquecento, Idea, Doblo, Lancia Y, Lancia Musa. Moreover, that unit is also used on the Opel Agila and the Opel Corsa.

Continue reading: Fiat to resume production of the 1.3 Multijet engine

Little motor, big problems: Fiat Powertrain has stopped production of the 1.3 Multijet diesel engine while looking into a number of anomalies regarding an externally supplied component.

At a rough estimate, this sudden suspension will result in the loss in production of around 1,000
engines a day. According to a statement from Fiat, it has been necessary to halt production of the engines and of the relevant cars that contain them in order to carry out relevant tests. This necessity has included the suspension of production activity at the Bielsko Biala plant in Poland
(where the Multijets are assembled) as well as at a few production lines of the Mirafiori, Termini Imerese, Melfi, Tychy and Bursa plants.

The problems with the engine (that is currently offered in the Fiat Panda, Punto, Grande Punto, Cinquecento, Idea, Doblo, Lancia Y, Lancia Musa, Opel Agila and Opel Corsa) will not affect the models that have been already sold and no recall has been suggested.

Continue reading: Fiat has suspended production of the 1.3 Multijet engine

Fiat Powertrain has announced its new 1.9 JTD Twin Stage Turbo engine, a diesel engine that can comply with Euro 5 regulations with a specific power output of up to 100 PS/liter.

The 1.9 JTD Twin Stage Turbo (TST) engine derives from the 1.9 JTD already in use on many Fiat and GM models. The new engine will be available in two power steps, one with 180 PS, the other with 190 PS (at 4,000 rpm), both with a maximum torque of 400 Nm at 2,000 rpm. The first one, which will be also available for clients outside Fiat Group, will be in production by july 2007, the other will be available by june 2008.

In the image gallery of the 1.9 JTD TST engine you can find some photos, technical details and the power curves.

Below the fold you can find the full text of the Fiat Powertrain press release (also in pdf). Also available is a pdf with technical details.

Continue reading: Fiat Powertrain: 1.9 JTD Twin Stage Turbo with 100 hp/liter