Fiat Auto Polska plans comeback, launches insurance firm

"Fiat wants to win back part of the market, thanks to better service, car loans and [Fiat] car insurance," said Fiat Auto Polska president Enrico Pavoni. Fiat still maintains 29% of the car market but wants to have over 30% by the end of the year. According to Pavoni, Fiat, which had zl. 9.8 million net losses in 1998, will record a profit this year. The Fiat president claims that car sales in Poland will increase by 7-8% in 1999. Furthermore, Fiat Auto Polska and Gerling Allgemeine Versicherungs AG intend to launch a new car insurance firm in the last quarter of the year. "We are in the process of gaining a license. We hope that by the end of the year we will start to offer auto insurance," said Pavoni. The new insurance firm would cooperate with Fiat Bank Polska. (Prawo i Gospodarka, page 1, 2, Reuters)