SHANGHAI, April 20 (Reuters) - Italy's Fiat Auto SpA said on Sunday that it would more than double the capacity of its plant in China by June, with an eye to unveiling new models in the fast-growing market.
Fiat's China chief, Flavio Ciappa, said capacity at its Nanjing plant -- a joint venture with Yuejin Automotive Group -- would rise to 120,000 units by the middle of the year and possibly to 200,000 by the beginning of next year.
"Currently, we've got a bottleneck at our paint shop, but I think we can reach 120,000 per year by June," he told Reuters on the sidelines of the Shanghai Auto Show.
"For the second step, we'll have to see. If our forecast is correct, by the beginning of next year we can reach 200,000."
Ciappa said Fiat will have sold about 40,000 cars in China by the middle of this year, and was targeting 150,000 units within the next two years.
He said Fiat had been scheduled to launch a third model at the show after the Palio compact car and Siena mid-size sedan, but did not because of complications which he declined to elaborate on.
"We want to be the protagonists in the market and you can't do that with only the Palio and Siena. We have to move into higher-end products," he said. He declined to say which model could soon be launched.