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Collision car between Elkann’s Stellantis and Bonomi’s Confindustria in the shadow of the sun

Collision car between Elkann's Stellantis and Bonomi's Confindustria in the shadow of the sun

How did the president of Stellantis, John Elkann, react to the drumming of the Sole 24 Ore and Confindustria for the entry of the State (through Cdp) into the capital of the French-powered car manufacturer which is downsizing the role of Italian plants and suppliers. Here is the updated point on the controversy

Clash without many formalities between Confindustria and Stellantis.

In recent days, wishes and solicitations have come from leading exponents of the industrial confederation (with positions emphasized by the confindustria newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore) for the State to enter the automotive group to stop the progressive dismantling of the role of the Italian factories in the Casa under French traction chaired by John Elkann.

Yesterday it was Elkann himself who responded to these Confindustria incursions. Here are all the details.

STELLANTIS' REACTION TO THE PRESSING BY CONFINDUSTRIA

Money from the Italian state in Stellantis capital? "No thank you". The president of the Italian-French-American group, John Elkann, explained why an intervention is not necessary, underlines today the home newspaper, La Repubblica directed by Maurizio Molinari. Here is the report from the newspaper of the Gedi group controlled by Exor of the Elkann family: “The reason can be summarized in a joke: «States enter companies when they are doing badly and Stellantis is doing very well». And then he adds: «If we look at 2022, in absolute value we are the company in the automotive sector that has had the highest operating results. In our history, from Fiat to FCA and up to Stellantis, we have never needed to have the State in the capital». And to those who point out to him that France appears among the shareholders, Elkann replies that it is a presence that dates back to PSA, the former Peugeot-Citroën group, which later merged with FCA at the beginning of 2021: «Our French partner has had difficulties over the years that have required state intervention in that case», explains the president.

ELKANN'S WORDS

On the issue of production volumes raised by related industries, which insists on the need to double Italian production and reach one million cars, the president of Stellantis remarked as a result of «having transformed Italian production plants into plants that have the world as a market". Jeeps are made in Basilicata, adds Elkann, "Dooges are made in Campania and sold in America, in Piedmont the electric 500 will go to America, not to mention the extraordinary work of repositioning Maserati and Alfa Romeo, which have the world as a market. The important thing is to keep the levels of competitiveness high».

THE CRITICISM OF THE TRADE UNIONS

The positions of the trade unions with respect to Elkann's words are quite different. «The capacity – said Fiom secretary Michele De Palma – is 1 million and 800 thousand cars in Italy, but less than 500 thousand are made. Our goal is to reach 1 million resources and 3,500 hires».

CONFINDUSTRIA FORCING ON THE GOVERNMENT AND STELLANTIS

But it was the leading exponents of Confindustria who actually criticized the top management of Stellantis for the increasingly marginal role of Italy within the French-owned group with negative repercussions on the related industries and on the Italian suppliers of the House led by the CEO, Carlos Tavares.

IL SOLE 24 ORE AND CONFINDUSTRIA DRUM FOR THE STATE IN THE CAPITAL OF STELLANTIS

In recent days Il Sole 24 Ore has drummed up – despite having a formally and naturally liberal approach like the confederation of industrialists – with two articles in the same article (an interview with former number 1 of Confindustria Lombardia Marco Bonometti , president of the OMR Group, Officine Meccaniche Rezzatesi, a company specialized in the production of crankcases for engines, transmissions, chassis and suspensions supported by an editorial by the editor of the page on engines) to say that Stellantis is leaving our country on the sly and therefore a state intervention in the shareholding structure is needed to ballast it here.

THE CRITICISM OF THE CONFINDUSTRIALE ANFIA TO STELLANTIS

The following day, again in the newspaper directed by Fabio Tamburini, Paolo Scudieri was even more explicit, president of Anfia, the Association of companies in the automotive supply chain, managing director of the Adler Hp Pelzer Group, a family business founded by his father, Achille, in 1956 with a turnover of 2 billion euros active in the design, development and production of components and systems for the transport industry but, above all, a member of the Advisory Board of Confindustria. In the past he was also a member of the national council of Confindustria and of the select committee for internationalisation.

CONFINDUSTRIA CONTINUES TO ASK FOR THE STATE IN STELLANTIS

"It is necessary to balance the forces and weights in Stellantis, it is a question of a right thing, in the light of the presence of the French state" is Scudieri's comment on the proposal put forward in the Sole 24 Ore by Bonometti, who spoke of the possibility of an entry Cdp in Stellantis to balance the presence of the French state and protect the Italian supply chain.

Even Bonometti is not a casual interlocutor, given his past as president of Confindustria Lombardia in the four-year period 2017-2021. And precisely in that role, at the end of March '21, expressing concern about the future of the Italian plants, he said : “We would not like to face another story like that of Ilva, where all the limits of an important part of Italian politics emerge. The auto sector at national level is worth 400 billion euros in turnover and 27 in wages, equal to 20% of GDP, but Italy has never considered it strategic. Let's not discuss the free market, a company is right to move as it wishes; the responsibility is that of not having created the conditions for the Italian car companies to be competitive in a structural way. The incentives are good, but we have to remove bureaucracy and make Italy attractive”.

URSO'S COPASIR PRECURSOR OF CONFINDUSTRIA'S CURRENT POSITION ON STELLANTIS

In truth, the same Parliamentary Committee for the Security of the Republic in the last legislature had overshadowed the same scenario now advocated by Confindustria. The report dedicates a paragraph to the impact of the ecological transition on the automotive supply chain, "among the most important in the Italian industrial landscape". And on Stellantis , the vehicle manufacturer born from the merger of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles with the French group PSA, Copasir – at the time chaired by Adolfo Urso (current Minister of Enterprise and Made in Italy) already registered a shift in the center of gravity of control of the newly established group on the French side”, referring to the increase in the share held by the French state (about 6 percent).

In order to counterbalance it and rebalance the Italian component with the French one, the Committee therefore proposed the entry of Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (controlled by the Ministry of the Economy) as a shareholder of Stellantis, "thus protecting technologies and employment". In this regard, Copasir argues that the FCA-PSA merger has had "already evident repercussions in the related sector connected with the production lines of the Italian factories ".


This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/autoscontro-fra-stellantis-di-elkann-e-confindustria-di-bonomi-allombra-del-sole/ on Fri, 02 Jun 2023 10:35:26 +0000.