Fiat-Chrysler to bring Alfa Romeo to US
The greater cross-continental production and export exchanges promised under Fiat Chrysler’s five-year plan back in April took another step forward this week with the announcement that Fiat dealerships in the US are likely to stock Alfa Romeo vehicles by 2012.
About 200 Fiat franchises are expected to be awarded to Chrysler dealerships in the autumn, which will sell the Fiat 500 minicar later this year. The company now plans to bring the mid-sized Giulia sedan and wagon to the US by 2012 to join the 500.
The addition of the Alfa Romeo brands backs up Marchionne’s declaration earlier this year that the joint venture will increase the amount of cars built in Italy for export to 1m vehicles by 2014–from around 290,000 units in 2009–with 300,000 units sent to the US under Fiat and Chrysler Group badges.
Longer term, Alfa Romeo will also see several new products exported from Europe to North America, and will have two new SUVs produced by Chrysler according to the five-year business forecast.
Gefco handles parts imports from France for Opel
Gefco is now handling the import of parts from French suppliers to Opel’s manufacturing plants in Germany and Belgium via a facility in Mörfelden-Walldorf.
The French logistics provider’s German division is now responsible for the clearance of parts shipments for the plants in Rüsselsheim, Bochum, Eisenach and Kaiserslautern in Germany, as well as for the Antwerp in Belgium.
While the control of the project is carried out centrally at Mörfelden-Walldorf, parts to Rüsselsheim and Kaiserslautern are fed from Gross-Gerau, while a facility in Leipzig is responsible for transportation for the plant in Eisenach. A cross-dock in Wuppertal handles parts for production at the facilities in Bochum and Antwerp.
Great Wall Motor expands CKD assembly
China’s SUV maker Great Wall Motor plans to start assembling vehicles from CKD kits sent from its Baoding manufacturing base in Heibei province to Senegal, the Philippines, Bulgaria, Venezuela and Malaysia over the next three years.
The company will launch vehicle assembly from the kits in Senegal in late September and in the Philippines later this year. Plants in the other three countries will launch operations before the end of 2013, a company spokesman said.
Initially the plants will build Great Wall's Hover SUVs and Wingle pickups with sedan assembly to follow.
All five plants will be joint ventures with local companies that will distribute Great Wall's vehicles.
The company currently operates CKD assembly plants in Russia, Indonesia, Iran, Vietnam and Egypt.
In the first half of this year, Great Wall sold more than 170,000 vehicles, up nearly 88 percent year-on-year. Of that total, 30,000 units were exports, up 51% from a year earlier, according to the company.
