Original: Fiat was forced to halt production of its 1.3L Multijet diesel engine on Wednesday because of quality control issues with some outsourced components. The engines are manufactured at a number of Fiat production sites including the main Bielsko Biala plant in Poland, as well as the Mirafiori, Melfi, Termini Imerese, Tychy and Bursa plants, and the suspension is expected to cause vehicle delivery delays.
According to an official statement, the decision to stop production was because of “a number of anomalies that have emerged with regard to an externally-supplied component for the 1.3 Multijet engine.” Fiat also said the suspension will likely cause delays for its February deliveries and that the company is making every possible effort to speed up controls and adaptations that could become necessary, Reuters reports.
The 1.3L Multijet diesel is used extensively by the Fiat and Lancia brands and in 2005 it was the voted International Engine of the Year for the 1.0 to 1.4L category. Some of the cars whose delivery could be affected include the 500, Punto, Panda, Palio, Linea, Bravo and Idea from Fiat, as well as the Musa and Ypsilon from Lancia. Versions of the engine are also used in some Opel and Suzuki models but there’s no word if any of these cars will be affected.