"Punto" powered by gas - trial series of new model produced in units of automobile factory "Zastava"

The trial series of gas-powered "punto" automobiles has been manufactured in the units of automobile factory "Zastava". And, as "Novosti" learns, the assembly-line production is going to start either at the end of this or at the beginning of the next month.

At the moment, about 120 vehicles are assembled on the lines in "Zastava" every day. The first serious assembly-line production of diesel automobiles in the history of "Zastava" was started in June 2009, while the production of gas-powered "punto" will start at the end of this month.

By the end of the year, the assembly lines will be equipped with new machines and prepared for production of about 200 automobiles a day, which means that the annual production will amount to about 50,000 automobiles. Regardless of the capacities, the plan for the next year anticipates production of about 30,000 "punto" vehicles, about 10,000 of which will be powered by diesel fuel or gas.

People in "Zastava" say that the interest in these models is huge in spite of the fact that the price of the model that can use gas as fuel will be few hundred euros higher. Even without new models, the interest in this "Zastava" model is not dropping at all. Since March 2009, about 11,000 vehicles have been produced, while 10,000 automobiles were sold last month according to the "old for new" system.