AD MAGAZINE 342

22 March 2018 | AutoData LAUNCH » CRONOS I n 2016, when Sergio Marchionne was in Cordoba, Argentina, to announce $ 500 million to the factory unit of one of the oldest brands in that country - Fiat will turn 100 in 2019 - little has been said about the integration that led the Ferreyra neighborhood have the same references for the production and quality of the FCA units in Brazil for the first time. This is perhaps the best news about Cronos, a premium compact sedan that has just been launched - sales started at the end of February in Brazil andArgentina: from now all models produced by FCA of the Jeep and Fiat brands in the region have the same technology and quality standards of the multi-brand company’s global industrial system. It was up to Stefan Ketter to lead this development, which took 195 laser wel- ding robots to stamping, a chain of local suppliers, many of them just arrived in Ar- gentina, aswell as promoting reformulation of the whole production process, turning Cordoba into a sister of Goiana, the Jeep factory in Pernambuco, and Betim, MG. “It’s a complete production project. We can say that Cordoba is competitive with all our factories. It is the mirror of Pernam- buco and Betim now”, says the world’s vice president of manufacturing of FCA By Leandro Alves The lord of Mercosul’s time Manufactured in Argentina, Fiat Cronos represents the unification of FCA production standards in all factories of the region