ROMA (ITALPRESS) – “The commitment of Stellantis with Italy is not in question, for us of Stellantis Italy is at the center of the strategic project that we have of our future and are demonstrating it with concrete facts. After tomorrow we will launch the Jeep Compass in Melfi in Basilicata, in a month we will launch the Fiat 500 hybrid in Mirafiori in Turin”. So the Ceo di Stellantis, Antonio Filosa, guest at “Five minutes” on Rai1. “It is also true that we have announced an investment of 13 billion dollars in four years in the United States, a market that expresses 16 million cars sold a year. Our commitment to Italy – he added – is to invest the first year 2 billion euros, buy in the first year of the Italian Plan 6 billion euros in components and services from our suppliers for a market that expresses from 1.5 to 2 million cars sold a year. As you can see from the numbers, they are two extraordinary and equally competitive plans.”.
“There is a difference between Europe and the United States. The United States with the new administration have transformed the rules with a unique and very fast pragmatism, and therefore have returned to the Americans the choice to buy the car they want. In Europe the rules are still restrictive and must be urgently modified. We need these rules to reflect the reality of the market and return to European customers the freedom to choose the car they want, as in the United States – said Filosa – We are asking four things. The first is to open to the concept of technological neutrality, which means exactly this. The second is open to the concept of renewal of the circulating park, in Europe today there are 256 million cars, 150 million are more than 12 years old and therefore pollute more than modern ones. Third, we want a specific focus on small cars for which Italy is the world leader. Fourthly, we need commercial vehicle targets to be changed urgently, because they are unattainable,” he added.
“Competitiveness in our sector is made by a sum of internal and external factors, and on some internal factors Italy is absolutely unbeatable. The Italian design, in Turin we have many designers and one of the world’s largest automotive design centers that designs for Italy and for the world, we have 3,500 young engineers in Turin who design for Italy and for the world. There are external factors that do not depend on us, such as the cost of energy. In Spain in 2024 a megawattora costs us from 70 to 80 euros, in Italy in the same year the same amount of energy costs us more than double, 182 euros. We are talking to the Italian Government, they are receptive, we are entertaining with them a constructive dialogue and we hope to arrive at favourable conclusions”, continued Filosa.
“The Chinese manufacturers, however fierce in their competition, are not the real problem. The problem is regulations that start from Brussels that are not realistic and are weakening what we have best, namely the European and Italian automotive industry. If these regulations change, we have everything to go back to what we were before: design, innovation, technology and design”, concluded Filosa.
-Photo IPA Agency-
(ITALPRESS).
