Gone are the golden years when Fiat produced 2 million cars a year: today the Italian multinational Stellantis produces less than 500 thousand, 800 thousand if we take commercial vehicles into account. The Italian automotive industry, once the flagship of the Italian industry, drives at night with the headlights off, while Germany, Spain and France follow a well-defined industrial policy, especially due to the ban on gasoline and diesel cars. The crisis at Magneti Marelli’s Crevalcore plant in the province of Bologna, where air intake manifolds, cast aluminum and components for internal combustion engines are produced, is an example of this. But this risks being just the first in a long series of closures in related sectors. There are 450 companies at risk and 74 thousand jobs.
What is happening to the automotive industry, but above all what will happen in the future without a forward-thinking industrial strategy? “There is a lack of vision and industrial policy: There is a lot to be done and we need to do it soon, otherwise we risk losing parts of the industry,” explains Gianmarco Giorda, director general of the National Automotive Industry Supply Chain Association, to Today.it. In an interview here.
Giorda (Anfia): “There is a lot to do and we need to do it quickly”
“There is a lot to do on the transition, because beyond Crevalcore’s Magneti Marelli and Bari’s Bosch, there are many companies in Italy today working on technologies linked to conventional combustion engine cars that must be accompanied in the transition to the electric car”, he declared Gianmarco Giorda. According to a study commissioned by the European Automotive Components Association (Clepa), around 450 companies in the parts sector in Italy are at risk of closure, and most of these companies are family-owned. As many as 74 thousand jobs may disappear. As Anfia notes in the Italian automotive components Observatory 2022, in Italy more than 73 percent of companies in the sector are still strongly linked to gasoline and diesel vehicles.
Stories of endurance
“We are not late in the transition at the automaker level,” commented Giorda: Stellantis has a very ambitious plan, but we need to adapt the components to the rhythms and accelerations that are happening in terms of electric mobility. In Italy we have historically had components that are very linked to the conventional engine, so we need to rush to help these companies reconvert or look at other sectors. “There are approximately 450 companies producing products that will no longer find sales outlets in Europe in 12 years. Today, companies producing pistons or silencers need to reinvent themselves.”
Some entrepreneurs are trying to diversify their businesses by developing new products for the medical, aviation and civil aviation sectors. “This is happening, many companies are already doing this without waiting for public support,” explains Anfia’s managing director. This is the case of the Italian company Sabelt of Moncalieri, which produces passive safety systems for road and racing vehicles and currently also works for the US space agency (Nasa). Among the durability stories, it is worth mentioning the story of Fluid-o-Tech, which produces small, high-precision pumps and has expanded its business into other sectors such as food service and health technology. In the same vein, Vm Motori from Cento (Ferrara) decided to focus on the development and production of marine and industrial engines following the cessation of diesel engine production, which led to the layoff of 300 employees.
Related sectors crisis
If Stellantis is preparing for the transition to electric cars, the entire industry needs to be redesigned. The Magneti Marelli case shows that the green transition has once again caught us off guard and that until now all successive governments over time have not had a clear industrial policy for the country and workers are paying the price.
Among the many related companies in difficulty is Bosch from Bari, which employs 1,600 workers, 80 percent of whose production is linked to diesel pumps. Possible problems are also on the horizon at the Denso factory in San Salvo, Chieti province, which employs 1,000 people for the production of alternators and starter motors. But, at least for now, the Vitesco di Fauglia and San Piero a Grado factories in Tuscany, where gasoline injectors were made, were saved, thanks to the transfer of Pisan production facilities to the Belgian multinational Punch. With the factory transformation project and new investments in research and development, the dismissal of 750 employees was prevented.
“We need to find other tasks for Italian factories that will ensure that managerial decisions also go in this direction,” Giorda explained. We also need to work with the government to create conditions for competitiveness. Today, there are significant gaps between Italy and other countries regarding energy costs. “We must ensure that companies, especially multinationals, are encouraged to invest in new products and new technologies in Italy, otherwise we risk losing parts of the sector.”
Localization of investments
Italy does not seem to be a very attractive country for multinational companies in the sector. It is no secret that Bosch, which has threatened to divest its plant in Bari several times, has decided to invest 1.5 billion euros in China to establish a plant in Wuxi for the design and production of components for Chinese manufacturers. The future of the car is now there. The German multinational company is also carrying out important projects on fuel cell industrialization at its facilities in Bamberg, Feuerbach and Homburg in Germany. The same goes for Magneti Marelli, which has established a new facility for the production of electric motors in Cologne.
“We have never witnessed the phenomenon of localization in the accessories sector,” Giorda explained, referring to companies with Italian shareholders; This is almost always the logic of ‘local to local’: local production for local demand.” However, the situation is different with multinational companies. “They do not invest in our country for two reasons: the problem of competition and the serious decrease in vehicle production in Italy in the last 10-15 years. We need to get back to producing at least a million. because this way there is more demand for components. The logic followed by global companies is unfortunately one of convenience, and it is likely that more mature countries such as Italy, France and Germany are ultimately less competitive than Eastern Europe. “In 10 years, production has increased, and this has partially eroded the production of other nations.”
Stellantis’ green car plan
How many cars can we still produce in Italy? In its golden years, Fiat produced 2 million cars a year, by 2022 this number reached just over 473 thousand (Oica data – International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers). Considering commercial vehicles, we have approached 800 thousand units, which is a very low number compared to other European countries. Considering that Germany, Spain and France were before us, and that the production of automobiles and commercial vehicles in Italy exceeded 1.7 million in 2000.
Although there has been a significant dispersion of automobile production capacity in Italy over the years, Stellantis’ activity in our country still represents a significant share of 1 to 3 percent of the gross domestic product. There are six car assembly plants in Italy: Mirafiori, Melfi, Pomigliano, Atessa, Cassino and Maserati Modena. There are also other factories in the group where automobile components are produced, such as the factories in Meccaniche di Mirafiori and Verrone, where gearboxes are made, and in Pratola Serra and Termoli, where diesel engines are made.
As for electric cars, Stellantis produces the 500 electric and Maserati Gran Turismo Folgore in Mirafiori (Turin). Starting next year, five new zero-emission models will be produced in Melfi (Potenza), while commercial vehicles in 100% electric configuration will also be produced at the Atessa factory (Chieti). However, in industrial facilities where transmissions are produced, those for hybrid cars will also be produced. In addition, a giant factory for batteries is planned to be established in Termoli from 2026.
Stellantis aims for 70% of the group’s sales in Europe to consist of electric or electrified vehicles by 2030.
Anfia’s demands to the Meloni government
The issue of switching to green cars does not only concern Stellantis and the Italian supply chain, but also the entire European automotive industry, including Germany, comparing our volumes with those of China, Japan and Korea. “China is doing very well. Fast. , and in exports it focuses mainly on electric cars. They have an insignificant price advantage because they can produce at lower costs: They have raw materials, batteries, so there is a risk of them coming to Europe. Good products at lower prices and more competitive More than a risk, that’s for sure. The Japanese and Koreans are a bit more technologically neutral, given that they also believe in other technologies such as hydrogen and ‘hybrid’.
However, Giorda comes to the following conclusion about Italy: “There is a lack of vision in industrial policy. We need to work on transformation costs such as labor costs, energy, logic costs, bureaucracy and many other issues we need to work on. Let’s intervene earlier, but there is still time. There are also decisions that concern the private sphere of companies, deciding to go to more suitable places and invest. We have lost a lot of positions compared to other European countries, but this Europe also has some mechanisms that need to be rebalanced, because there is no point in being in a united Europe, and then Hungary “There are ‘benefits and incentives much more intense than those of Italy’ in Poland, the Czech Republic, or France. So we run the risk of creating frenetic competition at the European level in an area where there should be equal rules for everyone.” Anfia’s chief executive demands the Meloni government to “introduce a set of convincing industrial policy instruments for those who have to invest in Italy”, “offer advantages to those who decide to continue their investments in our country” and “offer advantages to those who decide to invest in our country”. Maybe even another second producer.”
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Source: Today IT

Roy Brown is a renowned economist and author at The Nation View. He has a deep understanding of the global economy and its intricacies. He writes about a wide range of economic topics, including monetary policy, fiscal policy, international trade, and labor markets.