Nanjing Fiat partnership exporting cars from China

Fiat’s joint venture with China’s Nanjing Auto will soon start exporting cars outside of China with the first batch expected to be sold in Brazil and Egypt. The partnership has already received 8,300 firm orders for the Chinese built cars with the first shipments due to arrive later this year. According to China Daily, Fiat’s Brazilian division is already at full capacity and is now forced to import cars to meet growing demand for Fiat badged cars in South America.

According to officials this is just the beginning of a full scale export plan that will mainly target South America and the Middle East. The first cars to be exported include Fiat’s Palio and Siena subcompacts as well as the larger Perla sedan (pictured). Investors in the joint-venture have been disappointed to see sales of the Fiat cars slide in the Chinese domestic market despite growth of 22.3% for the industry overall, and have been pushing to see export plans put in motion.

There’s not much hope for the partnership, say industry analysts. Fiat is currently working on forming a new partnership with Chery Auto, while Nanjing is focusing on building up its MG label.