MILAN: Italian market watchdog Consob has asked Fiat to clarify its business plan for its Italian factories, a source close to Consob said on Saturday, adding to union pressure on the carmaker to make good on investment pledges in its domestic hub.
The request was made in a letter recently sent to Fiat, the source said on Saturday, confirming a press report that Consob had taken issue with a series of "contradictory announcements" by CEO Sergio Marchionne over production plans in Italy. A Fiat spokesman was not immediately available for comment.
Consob wants Fiat, whose strategic focus has shifted to the United States since it took over management of Chrysler in 2009, to explain its plans for Italy when it releases third-quarter results on Oct. 28 to dispel uncertainty over market-sensitive information, La Repubblica daily said.
Fiat has a 53.5 percent stake in Chrysler, set to rise by 58.5 percent by the end of the year.
Fearing the growing integration with Chrysler will lead to further reductions in Fiat's Italian operations, thousands of workers walked off the job on Friday in a one-day strike organised by Fiom, the country's biggest metalworkers union.
Fiat has six loss-making car factories in Italy, one of which is due to shut down at the end of the year.
Marchionne last year made a plan to invest 20 billion euros in the country conditional on local unions fully backing more flexible labour contracts to boost productivity and cut down on absenteeism.
A majority of workers have supported the deals, but Fiom rejected them.La Repubblica said Consob's request for clarification targeted in particular production plans at Fiat's historic Turin plant of Mirafiori.
Marchionne had initially planned to produce 280,000 cars a year there, including two sport utility vehicles (SUV) with the Jeep and Alfa Romeo brands, for an investment of 1 billion euros.
Earlier this month Fiat confirmed production in Turin of the Jeep SUV, but delayed it by a year it to 2013, and made no mention of the Alfa Romeo model.
Marchionne said this week the combined group would focus on strengthening its US and Brazil operations to offset a weak European market and the lowest Italian sales in 20 years.
"Italy has lost 700,000 cars (since 2008), which for Fiat means a loss of 210,000 cars.
There is no point in looking for new models," Marchionne said.
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