Italy govt, Stellantis aim to boost production in Italy to 1 mln vehicles

Stellantis, Italy’s sole large automaker, and the Italian government have agreed to aim to increase annual automotive production in Italy to one million units. This would reverse a downward trend seen in recent years, when production fell to fewer than 700,000 vehicles in both 2020 and 2021.

As a first step, Stellantis said it plans to introduce future production of a fifth model at its Melfi plant in southern Italy. The company’s CEO, Carlos Tavares, said he is confident that the agreement will “create the condition to first reverse the downward trend in production volumes in the two coming years and then build together the roadmap to produce one million vehicles in Italy.”

The plan would take several factors into account, including market forecasts, vehicle affordability, impact of Euro 7 emissions regulation and incentives to support Italy’s competitiveness such as on energy costs.

Stellantis has around 45,000 employees in Italy, while according to lobby group ANFIA, the whole automotive industry employs over 270,000 people in the country, directly and indirectly. It accounts for over 5% of Italian GDP.

The agreement is a boost for the Italian automotive industry, which has been struggling in recent years due to the global chip shortage and other factors. It is also a sign of the importance of the automotive industry to the Italian economy.