with the relatively harsh operating conditions resulting from the quality of the roads and of the Polish winter. of power came from the same 995cc engine as in the Italian car, however, and the Polish cars benefited, in 1935 from the upgrade that in Italy gave birth to the "508B", although the upgraded Polish version was known as the "508 II". Production was abruptly halted by the outbreak of war and precise production statistics do not survive; but it is apparent that the Polish output of Fiat 508s ran to several - probably many - thousand. Germany In Germany a motor bike manufacturer called NSU Motorenwerke AG had recently been persuaded by the dire state of the economy (and by their bankers) to abandon ambitious plans to become an automobile producer, and to sell their car plant to anyone who could be found to buy it. NSU found Fiat who thereby in 1929 acquired for One Million Marks a nearly new purpose built car plant near Heilbronn. The 508 Balilla was one of the first two models to be built at the plant It was badged as a "Fiat-NSU" between 1934 and 1938, and as an "NSU-Fiat" between 1938 and 1941 (though Fiat's right to use the NSU name on Fiat passenger cars assembled in Germany would 25 years later become the subject of a noisily litigious dispute). Production was halted by the outbreak of war and precise production statistics are not available, but it is thought that approximately 11,000 Fiat 508s were produced in Germany between 1934 and 1941 of which approximately 6,000, built between 1934 and 1938, were local equivalents of the 508A and the 508B. France The Fiat 508 Balilla was assembled in France under license from Fiat between 1932 and 1937, and is remembered in retrospect as the first Simca-Fiat. However, the "Simca-Fiat" business did not exist until 1934/35, and when, in 1932, French assembly started the car would have been known simply as a Fiat 6CV assembled in France by a company called "SAFAF". At this stage the cars were assembled in a small-workshop style factory in Suresnes near Paris. Most of the French auto-makers and their suppliers were based in the Paris region, and it proved practical and cost-effective to source many components and sub-assemblies locally, while taking care to maintain a disparate supplier base of smaller companies in order to avoid over dependence