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«One million vehicles produced in Italy by 2030. The source and date of the declaration? Carlos Tavares, CEO of Stellantis, last January on the occasion of the presentation of the 2023 accounts. Despite the Portuguese manager’s optimism, the reality is decidedly different and the future is anything but rosy. Because last year Stellantis production in Italy stopped at 521,842 cars (out of a total volume of 752,122 vehicles adding commercial vehicles) out of a total of 541 thousand cars produced in Italy. Things are no better in 2024, according to preliminary Anfia data, with domestic car production falling by 31.3% in March and 21.1% in the quarter.
Translated? Without Stellantis we can say goodbye to large volume production, leaving one of the most important manufacturing industries the prerogative of niche companies such as Ferrari and Lamborghini or rebranding as Dr with Chinese cars customized in Molise. An increase in production volumes could have come from China, thanks to the Leapmotor models marketed thanks to the joint venture between the Asian manufacturer and Stellantis. But the cold shower came from Tavares himself: only marketing and no production in Italy. And in Mirafiori only the electric Fiat 500 remains, at the end of its career, built on a platform that is not consistent with the others of the group, and its twin electric Abarth 500 which is currently a flop.
But how did all this come about? Deliberately removing Italy from the global automotive production scene and remaining exclusively linked first to the Fiat group, then to FCA and now to Stellantis.
Cars in Italy, missed opportunities
And to say that there was no shortage of opportunities. At the end of the 90s Toyota decided to produce the Yaris in Europe but who was the only government not to show interest? The Italian one. In the end, France was chosen with the Valenciennes plant capable of building over 4 million vehicles in less than 20 years. And what about Ford? Ready in 1986 to buy Alfa Romeo (after Ferrari’s attempt in 1963) with a decidedly advantageous agreement for Alfa Romeo but which ended in nothing, and with the company passing to Gianni Agnelli’s Fiat, thanks to the intervention of politics of the time. Better fate for the Volkswagen group, able to buy Ducati and Lamborghini (increasing production, turnover and employees) but staying away from opening plants for its own brands, present instead in Spain, Hungary, Belgium and the Czech Republic.
The Spanish example itself perfectly describes what could also have been done in Italy. Seat, founded in 1950, rebranded Fiat models (which founded it together with the Spanish government) for over 30 years until the arrival of Volkswagen. The German group enhances its Latin character, adds know-how and even in 2015 puts an Italian at the helm. Luca de Meo, putative father (together with Lapo Elkann) of the 2007 Fiat 500, who in addition to reorganizing its accounts, invents a new brand. Because if Seat lacks appeal, Cupra becomes a case history with a success exceeding the wildest expectations. And De Meo’s move from Fiat to Volkswagen (now leading the Renault group) sums up what is happening in Turin and the “surroundings”: a real brain drain. We went from over 112 thousand employees in Italy in 2000 to 60,000 in 2017 and up to 47,200 in 2023. The decline in personnel went hand in hand with important sales capable of changing the fate of the Italian automotive sector, as in the case of Magneti Marelli sold in 2018 for 6 billion euros. Not only companies but also development centers unique in the world such as the Nardò track, sold to Porsche in 2012.
