Fiat will try to put its 500 city car on the American market ''as soon as possible,'' CEO Sergio Marchionne said on Friday.
Speaking on the sidelines of a meeting of the Council for the United States and Italy, Marchionne said ''we hope to get it there soon and are studying the ways and means to produce it in America, within the area of the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA),'' which includes the US, Canada and Mexico.
''It would be nice to produce it in the US, but unfortunately it is an economic decision and we all know about the costs there,'' he added.
In order to produce the 500 in America, Fiat ''will have to find a partner'' because ''it is impossible to build a (standard) car in Europe and then sell it in the US at a profit,'' the Fiat CEO explained.
Speaking at the Geneva car show last March, Marchionne said the city car was ''sellable'' in the US ''but it cannot go it alone'' on the American market.
''Either we increase the number of different versions of the 500, something we are already working on, or else we can't approach that market. We have to be careful the 500 does not become a flash-in-the-pan success, as is often the case with new models in the US,'' Marchionne said.
Fiat is also planning to reintroduce the Alfa Romeo in the US but this will be done separately from the 500 ''even if the time frame may be the same,'' the CEO said.
The Fiat 500 was named Car of the Year 2008 by a jury of leading European motoring journalists.
It is a re-edition of the popular economy car which was produced from 1957 to 1977. The car has a retro-look to recall the classic 500, named after its original engine size, following the example of the new Volkswagen 'Beetle' and the BMW 'Mini'.
During its presentation to the press last July, Marchionne said ''the 500 is not just a car, it represents the new Fiat, a solid company projected towards the future. It's our travelling manifesto''.
Marchionne orchestrated Fiat's comeback from near bankruptcy at the start of the decade to posting 12 quarters of positive results in a row.
