Stellantis eyes November for start of hybrid Fiat 500 production

ROME (Reuters) -Automaker Stellantis aims to start producing the hybrid version of its Fiat 500 city car in November, it said on Monday.

The model, built at the historic Mirafiori plant in Turin, is meant to revitalise the Fiat brand in Europe as well as to boost flagging production levels in Italy.

Assembly of the first pre-production units had already begun in Mirafiori, the company said, calling it "a crucial step in the model's industrialization process."

Production is on track to begin by the end of the year, with November as the target month, it added.

Stellantis, which was born in 2021 from the merger of Fiat-Chrysler and Peugeot-parent PSA, last year saw its Italian car production slide to the lowest level in almost 70 years.

The company presented a plan in December to revitalise its Italian output, but warned that production numbers were set to grow only from 2026.

(Reporting by Alvise Armellini, editing by Keith Weir)