Val di Sangro passes three million mark

The Sevel light commercial vehicle plant (Società Europea Veicoli Leggeri) in Val di Sangro, Italy – a 50-50 joint venture between Fiat Auto and PSA – has just passed the production landmark of three million vehicles.

The joint venture between Fiat and PSA was set up in 1978. In 1981 the Val di Sangro plant started operations, producing 350 vehicles a day. Subsequent expansion to cope with a wider product range has resulted in the current output of 900 units per day. Beside the Ducato, vehicles in production include two similar models for the PSA group.

Ducato has proved to be a relentless sales success over the years. Currently, it is the second most popular light commercial vehicle of its segment sold in Europe, and has topped the sales charts for the first 10 months of 2005. Remarkable versatility (more than 600 versions and 140 options) and outstanding capacity (load from 1,000 to some 1,800 kg and volume from 7.5 to 14 cubic metres) combine to ensure its success in the market: about 1,700,000 units have been sold by Fiat Auto since 1981.

Sevel Val di Sangro is the largest light commercial vehicle plant in Europe. It is located between the towns of Atessa and Paglieta in the Chieti Province – occupying an area of over 1,200,000 square metres, of which 337,500 square metres is under cover – and is geared for the entire production cycle, namely body assembly, spraying and final assembly.

The plant currently employs 5,250 workers, 95.3% of whom reside locally in the region of Abruzzo. Every day, 250 semi-trailer tractors deliver semi-finished materials to the plant, and 200 vehicle carriers plus four trains leave with their full load of finished vehicles.

The plant meets the highest standards of quality and is environment-friendly, the internal quality system being ISO certified to 9001:2000. The environmental management system is also certified to ISO 14001.