Italy’s Fiat, which controls Chrysler Group LCC, will proceed with a 700 million euro (US$885.2 million) investment to move production of its new Panda compact from Poland to a plant near Naples despite an unresolved dispute with an Italian union, the automaker announced on Friday.
Fiat’s project to repatriate production during a crippling crisis in the automotive industry risked failure due to resistance from one union that opposed conditions set by the automaker, including more flexible work hours and new mechanisms for resolving labor disputes at a plant plagued by absenteeism and low production.
Even an endorsement of the plan by 62 percent of the plant’s 5,200-strong work force in a referendum was not enough to guarantee a deal, due to the threat of disruption posed by dissenting workers.
However, Fiat SpA confirmed it was going ahead after CEO Sergio Marchionne met with the consenting unions on Friday. Those unions representing 83 percent of Pomigliano workers signed a deal last month backing Fiat’s plans, with only the FIOM union holding out.
Among the concessions sought by Fiat was the possibility to operate three shifts, six days a week.
“The plan goes ahead and we will be working with the unions who signed up for the deal to ensure we don’t have any disruptions from those FIOM workers,” a Fiat spokesman said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss labor matters.
The alternative would have been to close the plant, a politically difficult choice given Fiat’s decision to close Sicily’s Termini Imeresi plant next year and the ongoing economic crisis.
However, FIOM maintained its defiance, saying Fiat was tending toward unilateral and authoritarian action that threatens to destroy industrial relations.
“This does not seem a useful way to confront problems created by the serious crisis we are facing,” FIOM said in a statement.
Marchionne and Fiat Chairman John Elkann each issued statements calling for cooperation of all workers to ensure Fiat emerges from the crisis as a strong global competitor.
A deal was needed this summer as production of the new Panda hatchback is scheduled to begin in the second half of next year and a new assembly line must be installed. The new Panda is expected to help boost production at Pomigliano from 30,000 cars in last year’s contracted market to 300,000.
The current version of the low-priced Panda, Fiat’s second-best selling car, is produced at its plant in Tychy, Poland, which also makes the 500 as well as the Ford Ka.
Meanwhile, French car maker PSA Peugeot Citroen formally agreed to an 8.4 billion yuan (US$1.2 billion) joint venture with Chinese group Changan Automobile (長安汽車) to increase Peugeot’s foothold in the rapidly expanding China market, the companies announced on Friday.
The first vehicles are set to roll off the production line in 2012, according to a joint statement.
Based in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, the joint venture will have an initial annual production capacity of 200,000 vehicles.
It will concentrate on launching the Citroen DS3 on the Chinese market, as well as sales of Peugeot and Changan vehicles.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”