Tavares in the Chamber: "Stellantis remains in Italy"

Stellantis “has no intention of abandoning Italy, we have a plan for all production sites” and wants to maintain “leadership” in the sector in the country. But producing vehicles in Italy in line with EU rules on the transition to electric has “costs that are too high”, “40% more” than those that “our competitors have to bear”. For this, “certain rules” and “considerable incentives” are necessary. The CEO of Stellantis Carlos Tavares, in a hearing in the Chamber, does not shy away from the confrontation with the political forces on the crisis in the automotive sector, which affects all the largest brands in Europe. Three hours of hearing, with at times harsh tones in the interventions, which did not leave the opposition forces and the social partners satisfied.

The secretary of the Democratic Party Elly Schlein insists: “We expected much more, we need to support the automotive sector and the transition processes, we have seen signs of disengagement”. The leader of the M5s Giuseppe Conte attacks: “You presented yourself as a liquidator. As far as I’m concerned, I won’t subscribe to a single euro if you continue to blame your incompetence on others.” While the leader of Action Carlo Calenda, protagonist of a decisive exchange in the Mappamondo classroom with the CEO of Stellantis, adds: “A mockery. The objective of one million vehicles no longer exists, but there ‘It’s the commitment of a million customers that we have to find them with incentives. So everyone is good.’

In the meantime, the unions speak of “non-responses” from the manager which confirm the reasons for the national strike in the auto sector called for 18 October. On the day in which the automotive group announced that the process is already underway to identify his successor, when he leaves office at the end of his mandate at the beginning of 2026, Tavares listed in Parliament the critical issues of the sector in dealing with the transition. Similar problems for all the large EU groups, given that in recent weeks both BMW and Volkswagen have revised their estimates for 2024 downwards, as has Stellantis.

The latest sales data in Italy speaks of -10.75% in September in a year-on-year comparison. The transition costs money and Chinese competition is strong. Tavares responds to the disappointment contained in some interventions in the Commission. “I feel a lot of anger, a certain resentment towards this situation, the same attitude that the employees have at this moment. It is a very difficult situation”, says the manager. Then he insists: “But I would like you to recognize that the regulations we must apply are not decided by Stellantis but have been voted by Parliament in Europe”.

And again: “We have been put in a Darwinian situation due to regulations that we did not decide, but were imposed. Don’t you like it? We don’t either.” The CEO of Stellantis also returns to the cyclical controversy over the possibility that the group – which holds the Italian brands Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Lancia and Maserati in its portfolio – is intending to disinvest in the country. “I can tell you that Stellantis has an excellent governance and board – underlines Tavares – let’s stop thinking that there is any external influence that wants to put Italy in difficulty, in a corner. If you wanted to be the victims of some external political influence, I wouldn’t be here talking to you.”

There has been talk for some time about the possibility of a second manufacturer arriving in Italy. The CEO of Stellantis warns: “We will not allow other competitors to jeopardize our market leadership in Italy. We will fight like hell to maintain our position.” Then the confirmation: “We do not intend to sell Maserati”. Production chapter. In the conversation between Stellantis and the Minister of Business Adolfo Urso, with whom there has been no shortage of divergent points of view in recent months, the objective of producing 1 million cars in Italy was discussed. Tavares specifies: “I will never talk about 1 million vehicles but about a million customers. If we had all those customers in Italy we could produce those vehicles. They are customers who must be put in a position to purchase cars at an affordable cost.” Meanwhile, the stock ended the day on Piazza Affari dropping 2.77%.