Stellantis will produce the latest Fiat Doblo in Spain as opposed to Turkey, creating uncertainty for Turkish car manufacturer Tofas, which currently builds the outgoing model.
Tofas operates as a joint venture between Koc Holding of Turkey and Stellantis. It produces the existing Doblo at a Turkish factory and earlier this week indicated that production could be extended until the end of 2023 and that it could also handle production of the new model. However, Stellantis has since published a press release stating that the new Doblo and E-Doblo will be manufactured in Spain.
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The news sent Tofas shares sliding by 6.1 percent. Speaking with Reuters, general manager Ata Yatirim said the news wasn’t encouraging for the joint venture.
“We still see a higher probability that there will be new potential projects… However, current news flow does not look very encouraging,” Yatirim said. “Any delay in the announcement of new potential projects… is likely to lead to an overhang in Tofas shares.”
The Fiat Doblo accounted for one-third of Tofas’ production in 2021 and made up 43 percent of its international exports with 48,761 units. It also builds the Egea and the MCV and while it has the capacity to build 450,000 vehicles annually, it only produced 229,000 vehicles in 2021, of which 77,520 were Doblo models.
Tofas claims that if production of the Doblo is extended in Turkey, European nations will not be among its main export markets. Instead, output would be focused on the Middle East, North America, Africa, and the domestic Turkish market.
The third-generation Fiat Doblo and e-Doblo models are essentially rebadged versions of the Citroen Berlingo, Peugeot Rifter, Opel Combo Life, and Toyota ProAce City Verso. Powering the e-Doblo is an electric motor with 134 hp and 192 lb-ft (260 Nm) of torque coupled to a 50 kWh battery pack. Meanwhile, ICE models are offered with a 1.5-liter turbodiesel and a 1.2-liter turbocharged petrol engine.
