Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne, during a visit to a new joint venture plant in Serbia with Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic, says the Italian maker trusts in Serbia even though the government has postponed paying what it owes into their joint car-making venture, ANSA reported.
”We know Serbia’s difficulties, but at the same time we have great trust in the new leadership,” Marchionne said in reference to Serbia’s postponed payment of the 90 million euros it owes for their joint venture that makes 500L compacts.
”We had an excellent talk. There are other areas where things are going well, such as the good investment we made in Serbia,” Marchionne told reporters during a visit to Serbia. ”The 500L is one of the best cars FIAT ever made. We produce a great car here.”
A model destined for the US market will be ready to hit the streets in less than six months, Marchionne added.
However, he was “pessimistic” about the European outlook for this year and next. “I’ve been … honestly, pessimistic about 2012 and 2013 and I think we will not see the recovery of these markets until 2013,” Marchionne said. “I think we will have to get used to these numbers being at low levels for the next 18 months.”
Nikolic said in reference to Serbia’s request to postpone the 90 million euro payment, and to split it into two tranches: ”We will do everything to honor our commitments, as far as roads and infrastructure as well, in spite of the difficulties.”
The European Investment Bank (EIB) will not hold back on the EUR500-million (USD625-million) loan to Fiat for its investment in Serbia despite the country’s government being slow to release its funding for the project. According to a Reuters report, a spokesman for the EIB said, “At the moment we are not aware of any impact on the loan.” The EIB’s loan is part of the joint financing for the project to modernise the giant Zastava production facility in the city of Kragujevac. Total investment is expected to be in the region of EUR1 billion.
Source Balkans
