ROME (MF-Dow Jones)--Fiat SpA (F.MI) Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne Thursday said the company plans to keep production of cars at its Sicily Termini Imerese plant only until 2011, a person familiar with the matter said.

After 2011, the Termini Imerese plant will remain open "but with a different sort of production," Marchionne told a meeting with the government and labour unions without elaborating, the person said.

Workers at Termini Imerese, which employs about 1,700 people, went on strike last month fearing the closure of their plant.

-By Guglielmo Valia, MF-Dow Jones, and Luca Di Leo, Dow Jones Newswires; +39 06 697 66920; luca.dileo@dowjones.com