Editor’s note: Reuters has corrected the plant investment figures that were published in an earlier version of this story.
WARSAW — Fiat Chrysler Automobiles will modernize its Polish plant to build hybrid and electric Jeeps, Fiats and Alfa Romeos.
The company plans to start production of the first of three new models at its factory in Tychy in the second half of 2022, the automaker said in a statement on its Polish website on Dec. 29.
The models will include full-electric cars, FCA said.
The investments are the “fulfillment of the promise to strengthen FCA’s operations in Poland made two years ago during the presentation of our business plan,” the automaker’s Europe boss, Pietro Gorlier, said in the statement.
The Tychy plant currently builds the Fiat 500 and Lancia Ypsilon small cars.
FCA will invest 755 million zloty ($204 million) in the project “with prospects for many times more,” Polish Deputy Prime Minister Jaroslaw Gowin said on Twitter.
Neither FCA nor Gowin named the new models to be built in Tychy.
The factory currently builds the Fiat 500 and Lancia Ypsilon minicars.
Janusz Michalek, president of Katowice Special Economic Zone, said in the statement that the cars will be completely new models not produced by FCA so far.
Polish press reports said the Alfa Romeo Tonale compact crossover, shown as a concept at the 2019 Geneva auto show, could be one of the new models to be produced in Tychy.
FCA plans to increase annual production at the plant to as many as 400,000 small cars based on PSA Group’s Common Modular Platform, according to Italian press reports earlier this year. The plant built 263,176 units in 2019.
In its 2018-2022 plan, FCA said it will spend 9 billion euros on electrification as part of investment plans totaling 45 billion euros.
FCA is planning a $38 billion merger with PSA to create Stellantis, the world’s No.4 carmaker.
The Tychy plant in Poland’s industrial southern region of Silesia is one of FCA’s largest and currently employs around 2,500 people.
The investment comes as a boost to Poland, which is hoping a switch to EVs can help its auto sector catch up with regional rivals such as the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
Bloomberg and Reuters contributed to this report
