Fiat’s Serbia plant in Kragujevac has lowered its annual forecast for 500L production from 180,000 to between 110,000 and 140,000 because of a delay in sales starting in Russia.
“The only forecast I can make is to decrease the top end of anticipated sales to 110,000-140,000 because sales to the Russian market have not started yet,” Antonio Ferara, the plant’s chief executive, told reporters.
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“If the Russian market will continue to delay, we’ll have to change the forecast more,” he said.
Serbia has a free trade agreement with Russia but it excludes cars. Belgrade has been pushing to have cars included so it can export its Fiat models to Russia under the more favourable terms.
The Kragujevac factory is a EUR1bn (US$1.3bn) joint venture between Fiat and the Serbian government which has a 33% stake.
