Fiat Serbia — formerly "FIAT Automobiles Serbia" (FAS) from 2008 to 2014, then "FCA Serbia" (FCAS) until 2021 — is a Serbian automotive manufacturing company based in Kragujevac, Serbia. It is a joint venture (JV) between the ex-Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), merged into Stellantis in 2021, which owns 67% of the operation, and the Republic of Serbia, which owns the remainder. The company headquarters and assembly plant are located on the former site of Zastava Automobiles (1953-2008) — 70 miles south of Belgrade on the Lepenica river in the country's central Šumadija region. Heavily damaged during the NATO Bombing of Yugoslavia, the factory was completely renovated and modernized, reopening in April 2012 as one of Europe's state of the art car factories. The operation currently has roughly 2,000 employees and works closely with 15 other companies and component suppliers, many located at the adjacent Grosnica Supplier Park — with a combined workforce of roughly 6,000 tied to production at Fiat Serbia. The factory has a daily output of roughly 400 cars. The JV is the largest foreign industrial investment in Serbia and as the country's largest exporter, with exports valued at 1 billion euro ($1.1 billion) in 2016. The plant manufactures the Fiat 500L, a five-door, five passenger, front-engine, front-wheel drive, high-roof B-segment MPV, which Stellantis markets globally in more than 100 countries — with the notable exception of Russia. By early 2018, production surpassed 500,000 units. Background From 1955 to 1999, the Kragujevac plant manufactured Zastava Automobiles under the Zastava, Yugo, and Fiat brands. Serbia's central Šumadija region was severely impacted in the 1990s by the collapse of Yugoslavia, as well as the subsequent war and its sanctions. The factory buildings were severely damaged in 1999 by the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. By the early 2000s, automotive companies began opening new manufacturing plants in nearby Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia — representing brands including Audi, Mercedes Benz, Renault, and Suzuki. Manufacturing costs in Serbia were projected at one fifth those of Italy and half of those in Poland. In April 2008, Fiat reached an agreement to purchase the damaged Kragujevac plant, completing a joint venture with the Republic of Serbia that same year and renaming the company Fiat Automobili Srbija (FAS). Fiat pledged €700 million in return for a 67 percent stake in the company (then owned by the state) and an additional €100 million investment by the Serbian