The Fiat Classic pandas says goodbye to Poland, which loses 1500 jobs due to the collapse of the demand for cars on a continental level. The only thing missing from the personnel cuts was the official announcement, which arrived this morning from the CEO of Lingotto Sergio Marchionne, who after being reconfirmed as president of the Acea – the association that brings together European car manufacturers – has communicated its intention to close the line Tychy which produces the famous small car, due to the "very negative" situation of the car market which causes "a redundancy of 1.500 employees and obliges the company to immediately start the collective redundancy procedure provided for by law".
The cuts had been in the air for some time: the local press had already released the news in early November. And according to the unions, the layoffs are motivated not so much by the macroeconomic context as by the intention to transfer the production of the Panda Classic to Italy, a possibility that the group firmly denies. Indeed, the Panda Classic will be taken out of production at the end of the year to leave greater market shares to the new modelalso because it probably wouldn't make sense for Fiat to transfer production of the old version to Italy, where labor costs would make the process much more onerous.
However, a rumor to this effect had been spread in recent months by various sites and newspapers, but company and union sources contacted during the day categorically deny that there is the possibility of keeping the old Panda "alive" and of transferring its production from Tychy in Pomigliano, an operation which, if possible, would have made it possible to call back into service many layoffs from the Campania town.
However, it is possible that the Turin technicians are already thinking about a sort of "restyling" of the New Panda, with the aim of replacing its cousin who is about to retire and guaranteeing the brand an adequate positioning even on the low end of the market. This is the hope of Giovanni Sgambati, general secretary of Uil Campania, but in the medium term there is no need to delude ourselves too much: "the cessation of Polish production will be able, in the best of hypotheses, to stop the continuous haemorrhage of jobs in Pomigliano, pouring on the new Panda a part of the demand that would have been addressed to the Polish model”, commented the trade unionist in the wake of the news from the top management.
The reactions from Poland were not long in coming: "although the Panda Classic was produced in Tychy for nine years, the company has decided to end production by the end of 2012", reads a statement from Boguslaw Cieslar, Fiat spokesman in Poland. The cessation of production will result in a lower need for manpower equal to 1500 metalworkers, who will receive salaries for another twenty-four months. Panda has so far engaged the Tychy plant, in southern Poland, for a total of 30% of the output.
The formalization of the cuts, caused by the deterioration of the European market and especially the Italian one, will make Pomigliano d'Arco the only Panda factory in Europe, and only the dynamics of the market (in addition to, as already mentioned, any restyling) will clarify whether the stoppage in Poland will increase demand for the new model, hopefully with positive effects on production rhythms and possible reabsorption of personal.
While a few months ago it seemed probable that Tychy would be entrusted by Fiat with another production line (to maintain the potential of the plant), today the sharp contraction of the car market suggests that the layoffs in Poland will, for now, be definitive.
