Fiat and Tata to build cars and engines together

Fiat and India’s Tata have signed a joint venture agreement. It will be based in India, making passenger vehicles, engines and transmissions for sale in India and other markets. They are also going to look at plans to cooperate in Latin America. This week Fiat announced its second-quarter earnings rose 56% and it agree three other joint projects; one with Severstal in Russia to build vans, another with Shanghai Automotive in China for heavy trucks and a vehicle financing agreement with Credit Agricole, France’s biggest bank.

Fiat and Tata have had an alliance since last year. Their joint venture will eventually produce 100,000 small cars and 250,000 engines and transmissions annually. Indian has a rapidly growing car market. It is expected to double by 2010 to two million vehicles. Fiat also said it is in early discussions about an alliance between its commercial vehicles division Iveco and Tata.

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