Fiat is to stop making six-cylinder petrol engines for its Alfa Romeo subsidiary, unions at the carmaker have said.

The unions claim Fiat is to close the Fiat Powertrain plant at Arese near Milan and instead source six-cylinder engines from General Motors.

Fiat has yet to comment on the matter, but the unions say the new engines will be made by GM in Australia.

The news comes a week after GM pulled out of an agreement to buy Fiat.

GM had to pay former partner Fiat €1.55bn (£1.1bn) to get out of a deal which could have forced it to buy the Italian carmaker outright.

Fiat and GM also ended their five-year alliance and two joint ventures in engines and purchasing, but did agree to continue buying each other's engines.

(Source: bbc.co.uk)