The Italian state in the capital of Stellantis? Elkann, no thanks

No thank you. John Elkann, president of Stellantis, returns to the sender the proposal to let the Italian state enter the automotive group through the Cassa Depositi e Prestiti. Proposal made today on the Only 24 Hours by Anfia, the sector association adhering to Confindustria, with the aim of rebalancing the presence of the French public shareholder and relaunching the industrial weight of the Italian supply chain within the Stellantis galaxy.

“States enter companies when they are doing badly and Stellantis is doing very well“, Elkann observed, on the sidelines of a meeting at the Turin Economy Festival. “From the results we had in 2022,” he added Elkann, “in absolute terms we are the company in the automotive sector that has had the highest operating results. And in our history, which began as Fiat, which then evolved with FCA and is now Stellantis, we have never had any need for to have the state in our capital”. The situation for PSA was different: “Our French partner has had difficulties over the years which in that case required an intervention by the French state”.

Fears for Italian industry

The proposal made by theanfia it is based on the fact that the auto sector as a whole weighs over 5% of the national GDP with significant tax revenues. The threshold of one million cars produced in Italy invoked by the manufacturers represents the necessary condition for maintaining the industrial fabric and the ability to trigger processes of technological innovation, necessary in a phase of transition as intense as the current one, reads the Confindustria newspaper ( Stellantis left the industrial association at the time of Sergio Marchionne’s FCA).

John Elkann, President Stellantis

In a decade, Italian production has halved dropping the country to seventh place among European automakers. The lack of an institutional counterweight within Stellantis, this is the concern, risks penalizing Italian producers precisely at a stage in which the group led by Carlos Tavares is realigning the entire production on the basis of the STLA platforms, writes the Only 24 Hours.

Elkann, we need clear and stable rules

However, Elkann noted “with great pride” that in recent decades we have managed to transform Italian production plants into plants that have the world as their market. If one thinks that today Jeeps are made in Basilicata, Dodoges are made in Campania and sold in America, the electric 500 will go to America in Piedmont, not to mention the extraordinary work of repositioning Maserati and Alfa Romeo, which have the world as a market. “The important thing”, he continued, “is to keep the levels of competitiveness high”.

For this, “a framework of clear and stable rules is needed. The automotive world is experiencing major technological challenges. Governments have a big responsibility to define the rules of the game. For an industry like ours, the stability of the rules is important because our projects and investments are long-term”.