Fiat is planning to establish a new joint venture in China, according to reports citing remarks by CEO Sergio Marchionne.
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The new joint venture will be replacing the existing Fiat Nanjing Automobile Company Limited, a joint venture with Nanjing Automobile that has looked increasingly troubled.
The new partner of Fiat is likely to be either Chery Automobile or Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation, reports say.
According to Marchionne, the automaker aims to sell 300,000 units in China by 2010.
Established in 1999 with a capacity of 100,000 vehicles, sales peaked at 36,739 units in 2003, and have remained around the 30,000 units mark each year since then.
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By GlobalDataNanjing Fiat has been loss-making since 2003, despite a surge in demand and strong growth by almost all other vehicle manufacturers present in the country.
The main reason is a lack of new products. It currently offers four models, the Palio, Siena, Palio Weekend and Perla, but all are essentially versions of the Palio. The Perla was launched last year and was developed locally, but is still based on Palio technology.
Tensions between the partners intensified after Nanjing picked up MG Rover assets and launched the Roewe brand.
See also: CHINA: Nanjing-Fiat at turning point
