Fiat Grande Panda Unveiled in Serbia

The unveiling of Fiat Grande Panda in Kragujevac was attended by Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and Carlos Tavares, CEO of the Stellantis automotive group, which was created in a merger of Italian-American carmaker Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) and the French PSA Group.

Serbia will be the first country in the Balkans to have serial production of electric cars. At the ceremony, however, Vučić warned that the country is lagging behind in installing chargers for electric vehicles and noted that in five years, only electric cars will be produced in Europe.

Stellantis is "ready for the fight" for its place in Europe's electric vehicle market against strong competition from Chinese carmakers, its CEO Carlos Tavares said, as the group presented its new EV production line in Serbia.

The Franco-Italian car maker was ready to demonstrate that it was "hard-working", had the "right technology", and would be "a very fierce competitor", Tavares added.

"And this is fundamental because we are going to be challenged and I would say brutally challenged by the Chinese offensive on the European market. This Chinese offensive is going to be huge, very brutal, as we all know. All the European countries are inviting the Chinese manufacturers to come to Europe. This is the fact. This is the fact that you can check every single day and we at Stellantis, we are ready for the fight," He added.

Serbia, which is pushing to become a key European supplier of more sustainable raw materials, batteries and electric vehicles, signed a $206.9 million deal with Stellantis in 2022 for the production of an electric vehicle at its car manufacturing plant in Kragujevac.

The plant is seen as a generator of growth for the entire region.

It is eyeing an annual lithium output of 58,000 tonnes, enough for about 1.1 million electric vehicles or about 17% of the European market.