Fiat 500 sold out in 3 weeks, prompts extra production

Fiat’s recently launched 500 minicar is proving so popular that management has decided to increase production. According to Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne, annual production for the 500 will expand to 140,000 from the current 120,000 level starting from next year. It’s hard to imagine that Fiat’s original plans were to build just 58,000 units of the stylish minicar this year.

The 500 minicar is already sold-out for the year after hitting showrooms just three short weeks ago. “As of yesterday, we had received 57,000 dealer orders for the 500, of which 51,000 are from Italy and 6,000 are from France,” Marchionne told Automotive News.

Fiat will now have to expand its Tychy plant in Poland to build the extra minicars as well as accommodate production of the upcoming Ford Ka mini that’s due for launch by autumn next year. Within the next 12 months, the Tychy plant will be capable of building 140,000 500s, 240,000 Panda hatches and 120,000 Ford Kas.