Fiat boosting 500 production to 190,000 cars per year

The rejuvenated Fiat 500 Cinquecento has proven so popular that demand has been outstripping supply for the first six months of sales, and with a host of new models on the way and no sign of demand slowing officials have been forced to boost production to 190,000 units a year. Fiat originally planned to build just 120,000 units for the first full year of sales but since its launch in July last year dealers have already received 160,000 orders.

To cope with the extra demand, production at the 500’s plant in Tychy, Poland, will be lifted from the current rate of 500 cars per day to 750, reports Automotive News. Fiat could have a serious problem on its hands because there are plans for several new variants of the 500 and if demand for the current hatch is already reaching the limit we can only imagine what effect more models would have.

The first of the new models, the performance 500 Abarth, will be unveiled at next week’s Geneva Motor Show. This will be followed by a more powerful ‘Essesse-Essesse’ variant in November and after that we will see a new cabrio version as well as a possible SUV-based model. A stretched wagon version along the lines of the original 500 Giardiniera from the 1960s is also in the works but won’t arrive until the end of the decade.