Fiat's Marchionne says eyes Russian SUV production

MOSCOW, Oct 8 (Reuters) - Italy's car maker Fiat (FIA.MI), which part-owns U.S. Chrysler Group, would like to launch production of Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) in Russia, its chief executive Sergio Marchionne said on Thursday.

The comment came as Marchionne came to Moscow to sign a deal between Fiat's U.S. subsidiary Case New Holland Inc (CNH.N) and Kamaz (KMAZ.MM), Russia's largest truck maker, to set up a venture to produce and sell agricultural and construction machinery. [ID:nL7554428]

"Our dream is to make a jeep in Russia," Marchionne told through an Russian interpreter when signing the deal in the presence of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

Chrysler's product line includes the Jeep Grand Cherokee SUV.

Putin, who has repeatedly named Italy one of Russia's most important trade partners and who calls Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi his friend, told Marchionne making an SUV in Russia would be a good move.

"SUVs are in very big demand in Russia given that we have yet to build a big number of roads," said Putin, Russia's most influential politician, referring to Russia's often disastrous state of roads, seen as one of its key economic problems.

Marchionne said Fiat would develop further its partnership with mid-sized Russian car maker Sollers (SVAV.MM) with whom it already plans to produce small- and medium-sized Fiat cars.

Sollers like many Russian and foreign car makers with production in Russia has suffered an unprecedented collapse in sales this year after cheap car loans evaporated because of the crisis and people incomes shrank.

Russia car sales halved in the first nine months of 2009 and are not expected to recover before the end of the year, a report showed on Thursday. [ID:nL8180181] (Editing by Hans Peters) (Reporting by Darya Korsunskaya, writing by Dmitry Zhdannikov, Moscow Newsroom, + 7 495 775 12 42)