Fiat to Halt Production in Two More Plants Due to Hauler's Strike, Says it's Reaching a Breaking Point

Adding to the Fiat Group's long list of troubles in Europe is the prolonged vehicle transporter strike in Italy. The company issued a statement today saying that it will temporarily suspend production at two plants in the country.

These include the Cassino plant (from March 27 to 29) and the Giambattista Vico plant in Pomigliano d'Arco (from March 26 to 27), where the all-important new Panda (currently being launched across Europe) is produced.

"The vehicle transporter strike involving only a minority of drivers' associations, which has now been in effect for more than a month, is causing major disruption for the automotive sector in Italy," Fiat said in a statement.

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Chevy Volt and Opel Ampera win 2012 European Car of the Year Award

The Chevrolet Volt and its sister model, the Ampera, which is sold as under both the Opel and Vauxhall nameplates, have won the 2012 European Car of the Year (COTY) Award with 330 points.

Coming into second place was the Volkswagen Up! city car with 281 points while the new generation of the Ford Focus finished third with 256 points.

The other cars that made it to the final round of the competition were the Range Rover Evoque (186 points), Fiat Panda (156 points), Citroen DS5 (144 points) and the Toyota Yaris (122 points).

The competition brought together votes from 59 automotive journalists in 23 European countries.

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