VW and FIAT gear up their production and exports

Thanks to the fact that Volkswagen and FIAT have chose to locate the production of their new models in Poland, the two companies will export 250,000 vehicles. Further, the new cars, Caddy and Panda, will only be produced in Poland. "We already have orders for 80,000 Pandas, which is a month ahead of schedule," said FIAT Polska's director Gianni Coda. In 2004, the company will produce about 200,000 Panda cars, out of which 80% will be exported. In the meantime, Volkswagen made a world premier of its Caddy van during the recent auto fair in the Netherlands. The production of the new vehicle will begin in November, with sales scheduled to begin in spring 2004. "We plan to assembly 90,000 Caddy vans in 2004," said VW Poznań spokeswoman Anna Lechowicz. About 74,000 of these will be sold abroad, out of which 10,000 will be sold to the markets of Eastern Europe. (Parkiet, p. 6) M.M.