“We need an agreement to relaunch production.” The idea of ​​a new car in Melfi- Corriere.it

At the first automotive table under the Meloni government, the metalworkers’ unions make a promise: an agreement between the government and Stellantis before the summer break that can relaunch the sector in its transition to electricity. Fiom, Fim, Uil, Ugl, Fismic and Aqcfr, but also trade associations such as Anfia and Federmeccanica, have been pressing the new executive for some time: the tricolor car is back, related industries suffer and stay afloat thanks to exports (5 8 billion the balance in 2021), the cars assembled in one year have plummeted to 473 thousand when the market could absorb a million more (France already produces 1.2 million). The disparity between the two countries that make up the nationality of Stellantis is evident.

The slow motion systems of the old Fiat

The finger pointed at the old Fiat, whose plants on the Peninsula travel on a narrow gauge and are s saturated, but with social safety nets. An agreement between the government and Stellantis is necessary, a transition agreement to increase the production of cars of innovative models in the country and accompany related industries in the reconversion, says the Minister for Enterprise and Made in Italy, Adolfo Urso, in no uncertain terms. We must act to increase the production of cars in the country in the face of the imbalance in Italy which, despite the automotive translation, is the European country with the greatest delta between what is produced and what the country absorbs.

Foreign investment

According to the minister, market conditions are such that there is obviously room for a second, third or fourth car manufacturer, perhaps on electric vehicles. Spain, for example, does not even have any state carmaker, but the second largest European producer and in the competition for a new battery gigafactory. The minister will therefore carry out a reconnaissance to understand between Pnrr funds, development and expansion contracts which are the capitals that can attract investments. A new industrial policy for the car compared to that of the single manufacturer of the 80s and 90s. The Alfasud case docet.

The roadmap

Urso then recalls that 80% of the incentives went to cars manufactured abroad and that we have the oldest vehicle fleet in Europe. This is why he confirmed to the unions that he will meet the six governors of the regions that host the Stellantis factories and then Anfia to understand exactly what the objectives must be to reach a transition agreement with Carlos Tavares so that there is a turnaround on production cars in our country and so that the components are protected and successfully accompanied to reconvert. According to rumors, part of the agreement that the executive would aim to sign with Stellantis could concern the addition of a fifth electric car to the new production lines in Melfi, one of the Stellantis plants most in difficulty: with a -34% equal to 84,307 cars , was the auto assembly plant with the largest loss in 2022 compared to 2019.

The trade unions

The unions leave the meeting satisfied. It was a very intense meeting, over three hours. The main automotive news is the government’s willingness to seek the possibility of an agreement with Stellantis to manage the transition, thus clarifying much more the missions of the sites, the models and reversing the trend of declining production. We obviously appreciate this, says the general secretary of the Fim Cisl, Roberto Benaglia, underlining however that the strikes of 7 July remain confirmed. We are fighting for more, they are not strikes against. Fiom increasingly sees a real contractual confrontation with the government and the business system as necessary to define strategies in the ecological transition. We have asked – reports Michele De Palma, Fiom secretary – to invest in research and development, regenerate employment by encouraging the entry of young people to catch up with other European countries. The situation of the automotive plants – he explains – runs the risk of being dramatic from a production and employment point of view if a plan is not implemented, as in other European countries, with extraordinary resources. Not even the confederal union withdraws from the strike. We are asking the government for three concrete actions, one at a European level to rationalize the electrification process, a purely national one to support the necessary industrial conversions and finally one to support workers affected by the employment repercussions of the energy transition, inform the Uil secretary Tiziana Bocchi and the secretary Gianluca Ficco.