Will the Chinese Dongfeng Motor Group really become the second car production company in Italy? This is the question circulating after the news announced by Bloomberg, according to which the Chinese car manufacturer, already a partner of Stellantis, is considering the possibility of opening a plant capable of producing more than 100 thousand vehicles a year in our country .
All hypotheses on the table
The discussions with the government of Rome are still in a preliminary phase, according to what was confirmed by the Minister of Enterprise and Mady in Italy Adolfo Urso. However, he specifies that discussions are also underway with other car manufacturers, not just the Asian ones.
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“Car manufacturers – said Urso – are aware that on the path to European reindustrialisation it will be increasingly necessary to produce in Europe for the European market. This also applies to car manufacturers who are in fact talking to various European countries to understand where to make their products. factories for the European internal market”. Chinese car manufacturers, pressured by a decline in domestic demand, are thus turning their gaze towards Europe, which is activating various tools to determine the energy transition path. However, Brussels recently launched an anti-subsidy investigation into Chinese-made electric cars ahead of tariffs of up to double digits.
The interest of Chinese companies in Europe
It is not the first time that the press has reported on ongoing dialogues between Rome and a foreign car manufacturer. In March, the Reuters news agency reported in-depth discussions with China’s Chery. A month earlier, however, Minister Urso himself had revealed that he had come into contact with Tesla and three Chinese car manufacturers: Chery, Great Wall Motor and BYD. The latter would have been contacted by the government of Rome as part of Italy’s efforts to attract a second car manufacturer in addition to Stellantis. The Chinese electric car giant BYD did not deny having spoken with the Italian executive, but it seems that it did so only before choosing to open its first plant in Hungary.
Dongfeng and Chery are following in BYD’s footsteps. Chery, in fact, has signed an agreement to build its first European factory in the industrial free zone of Barcelona, Spain, with Ebro-EV Motors. Cars produced in Spain will be released by Spanish car manufacturers under the Omoda brand.
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What Dongfeng will produce
The Chinese giant Dongfeng, born in 1968 in Wuhan, produces cars with the PSA group (Peugeot and Citroen), Stellantis and Honda. But like other major Chinese brands, Dongfeng is also suffering from declining domestic demand for gasoline-powered cars. After peaking in 2017 with 2.83 million deliveries, Dongfeng’s sales fell to 1.72 million last year, a decline of 38 percent. Traditionally it is considered one of the “Big Three” car manufacturers, but today with 671 thousand cars sold in 2023, the company is the smallest of the “Big Four” of Chinese automotive, together with Chang’an Motors, FAW Group, and SAIC Motor. The Meloni government will offer some options for production sites in the coming weeks.
So what to expect? The Chinese company could produce hybrid or hydrogen-powered cars in Italy. Moreover, Dongfeng has been working for some time on the use of hydrogen to power the engines of industrial vehicles and has an ongoing collaboration with Nissan Venucia to market an H2 car. There is no lack of attention to electrics. Dongfeng’s electrified vehicle unit, Voyah, just debuted its electric models at Milan Design Week. A sign that the Chinese company will land on not only Italian, but also German and Spanish markets.
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