Autmotive News Europe — 2023-12-03
Automotive Industry
Production of electric Panda would boost trade between Italy and Serbia, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said he expects Stellantis to produce a battery-electric Fiat Panda city car in Kragujevac.
Vucic said that the production of electric Panda would boost trade between Italy and Serbia above the current €4.6 bn a year.
Vucic did not give any specific date for the production launch. He spoke on Sunday after meeting Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
The electric Panda is expected to launch around mid-2024. It will use the same Smart car architecture as the recently launched Citroen e-C3. Its price likely would be similar to the eC3, which currently starts at €23,300, but after 2025 will have a shorter range variant costing less than €20,000.
Stellantis and the Serbian government in 2022 signed a €190 m deal to produce electric vehicles in the Kragujevac plant but they did not say which BEV will be built at the factory, which previously produced the Fiat 500L minivan.
The current generation of the Panda is built in Pomigliano near Naples in Italy. Italian unions oppose the loss of Panda production from Pomigliano. FIOM, one of the largest Italian unions, issued a statement saying it will fight Stellantis's plans to move Panda output outside Italy.
Stellantis said recently that production of the current Panda in Pomigliano will continue until 2026. At an event in Turin in November, CEO Carlos Tavares said the production run could extend beyond that date if the EU drops proposals to tighten emissions regulations.