(March 7, 2011) MEXICO CITY — Together with Mexico’s President Felipe Calderon, Chrysler Group CEO Sergio Marchionne celebrated the launch of the all-new 2012 Fiat 500 today at Los Pinos, the official residence and office of Mexico’s President.

The Fiat 500 is one of 16 all-new or significantly refreshed vehicles and one of two new nameplates Chrysler Group launched in 2010.

“A little more than a year ago, I promised President Calderon that I would be back to celebrate the launch of the Fiat 500 and I am pleased that I could keep that promise today,” said Marchionne.

Marchionne announced in February 2010 that the company would invest $550 million USD, with the assistance of loans from the Mexican government, to build the new Fiat model in its Toluca plant. With that investment, Chrysler Group added 622 jobs to support production. The plant will build more than 120,000 vehicles for export to the United States, Canada, and South America, as well as to China by the third quarter of 2011.

“Fiat 500 production here is an important landmark because it reaffirms Chrysler’s commitment to Mexico that dates back to 1938,” said Marchionne. “Mexico is in an ideal position for production of this car. Because of its free-trade agreements with neighbors to both the north and south, it is a bridge between NAFTA and Latin America.

“And for the Mexican market, where the 500 has already been sold for several years, this marks an important shift from a vehicle imported from Europe to one that is built locally,” said Marchionne.

Today, Chrysler has nearly 7,000 employees and six plants in Mexico, among which the Ccompany builds Ram trucks and the all-new 3.6-liter Pentastar V-6 engine in Saltillo, as well as stamping operations.