Other than “Italy the heart of production Stellar” as the company declared in the meetings at Mimi with Minister Urso and the unions on the future of the factories Melfi, Mirafiori and Atessa. In fact, the numbers say the opposite and the promise to return to producing one million cars in our country sounds like a mockery. And the End-Cisl to paint the real situation of the production volumes of the Italian factories of the now French group and this time he does it with numbers. The union, in fact, presented its usual quarterly report and the data show a reversal of trend after two years of growth: in the first three months of 2024 the group produced 170,415 vehicles, 9.8% less compared to the same period of 2023. The reasons lie in the -23.8% (equal to 105,255 units) totaled by cars, which canceled out the strong improvement in commercial vehicles (+28.5%, 14,460 units).
“Except for the establishment of Pomigliano d’Arco which represents more than half of the total production and where we see a growth of 26% thanks to the Panda, the other four plants halve their car production with very significant declines”, explains Fim-Cisl. In particular, the volumes of Mirafiori, also due to the delay in the process for the new incentives, fell by 51% (12,680 units, of which 11,360 Fiat 500s and 1,320 Maseratis). For what concern Trident, in Modena a drop from 330 to 105 MC20 was recorded. They also go down Cassinowith 8,540 cars produced and a -40.7%, and Melfi, with 25,100 units and a -50.7% (-62% compared to pre-Covid levels in 2019).
Plus signs with older diesels and petrols
Pomigliano figures well in this negative picture: after +30.3% for the whole of 2023, the Campania factory closed the first quarter of 2024 with 58,830 vehicles (+26%). To support the volumes is the stainless Panda (+45% and 44 thousand units), while Alfa Romeo Tonale and Dodge Hornet suffered a drop of 9.5% (14,830 units). “If the trend seen in the first quarter of 2024 is confirmed in the coming months and the incentives do not reverse the trend, overall production, with commercial vehicles, will stand at just over 630 thousand units, below the 751 thousand in 2023” , Fim-Cisl states again, underlining how, in this case, the objective desired by the government of bringing Italian production back to the threshold of one million vehicles appears to be “increasingly distant”.
The CGIL requests the summons of Tavares
At the meetings with the government and unions the CEO of the group, Carlos Tavares, he didn’t show up. The decision to abandon the appointments, scheduled for months, can only be read as a way of leaving the path of disengagement. On the other hand, Tavares himself has repeatedly reiterated that Stellantis “goes to produce where it is most convenient” and that the ex-Fiat’s debt to the Italians (billions of euros in support of the group in almost forty years, the minister reminded him) is nothing that concerns him. Hence the position taken by the CGIL e of the same Foreign Minister, Tajani who ask the government to summon the CEO of the group to start “a real negotiation, in which to make precise commitments”. “I hope that Stellantis does not leave Italy: there is a tradition in the car industry that cannot be abandoned and I think it is right that this company continues to invest in our country, because there are also constraints of conscience – Tajani said. – We are in a free market system, no one can force anyone, mine is a call to a sense of responsibility. But we are an attractive country and at the right time we will see who to open negotiations with.” The CGIL then recalls that the group only started a further one in the last month slimming treatment for over 3,500 employeesthen extending the redundancy fund in Mirafiori. Also for Atessa, which is fine, there is now the bugaboo of a part of the production moved to Poland. Not to mention Mirafiori where, given the sales flop of the electric 500, the factory appears to be broken down. Even the continuous request for public funds to support demand, explains the CGIL, cannot become an alibi for not investing in Italy. “The reasons for this are therefore strengthened – concludes the CGIL united strike on 12 April proclaimed in Turin and which increasingly takes on a national value”.