Initially, the third-generation Panda would have arrived this Summer, after been delayed twice. It was first put back to September 2011 after Marchionne kicked off a 15 month expenditure freeze.
The first freeze ran from October 2008 to December 2009 and saw the setback of the new Panda, Alfa Romeo Giulietta and the next-generation Lancia Ypsilon.
In a telephone meeting with financial analysts, Marchionne said introducing any major new models last year in the middle of the global downturn would have been a “waste”.
“That's the reason why I think we intelligently postponed a number of our programmes to make sure that it coincided with what I consider to be a structural recovery in demand in 2011 and later years,” he said.
The new-generation Lancia Ypsilon supermini will launch in 2012, however, the refresh for the Fiat Idea/Lancia Musa and Multipla MPVs have been delayed further.
