EV Silk-Faw cars won’t start? Here are the delays of the gigafactory
The 1 billion Emilian plant devoted to the production of electric hypercars seems to have disappeared into thin air: the Sino-American property is silent, the company owes 30 million to suppliers and has stopped paying salaries and rents. Now even the judiciary wants to understand something more about Silk-Faw …
While in the rest of Europe there is a competition to attract brands and car manufacturers who invest in gigafactory EV vehicles and batteries, Italy, thanks to the lack of an industrial plan that allows them to be prepared for the moment Endothermic engines will be banned from the Old Continent and, at present, even the absence of a government (a situation that is slowing down the work at Italvolt in Ivrea ) risks remaining at stake. Moreover, one of the main protagonists of this crucial period of transformation, or Silk-Faw, has not been known for a long time, so much so that now even the judges want to see clearly. But let's go in order.
WHAT IS SILK-FAW
Silk-Faw is a Sino-American joint venture that intends to move to Emilia to produce all-electric hypercars. The choice of location is by no means accidental, given that Gavassa, a stone's throw from the Reggio Emilia tollbooth on the Autostrada del Sole and the futuristic Mediopadana high-speed station designed by the star architect Santiago Calatrava, is located in the heart of the land where the first steps – sorry, after the first kilometers – dream vehicles like Ferrari, Maserati, Pagani, Lamborghini, Ducati, Dallara and Tazzari. In short, we are in the Land of Motors, or Motor Valley, at the helm of Silk-Faw Katia Bassi to Giovanni Lamorte , general manager and managing director. The S9 should be produced in the Motor Valley, a hybrid hypercar in 400 units worth two million euros, the S7, an electric supercar and an SUV.
A 1 billion euro project that should create between 1500 and 3000 jobs, welcomed with open arms by politics, at all levels, by the local Pd council led by mayor Luca Vecchi to the Emilia-Romagna Region, for which they were I spent the 5 Stars in government ( Manlio Di Stefano signed the agreement, as Undersecretary of the Foreign Minister, Luigi Di Maio ) and on which the former Prime Minister Romano Prodi would also work. Handshakes, signatures, many beautiful words, but then a long period of silence, which had already put his hands on the President of the Region, Stefano Bonaccini , one of the most enthusiastic sponsors, who however changed his register in mid-March : " We hope that the Silk-Faw investment will be successful, but until we see it completed we will not give it one euro of the 4.5 million funding allocated ”.
UNPAID SUPPLIERS AND SALARY
Also because the local newspapers have gradually brought to light more and more disturbing details. Last but not least, the interview made by Resto del Carlino with a technician: “Many promises and few facts. The money never arrived and the managers disappeared ”. The worker, who for obvious reasons prefers to remain anonymous, said: “We work in the offices of the Technopole where Jonathan Krane (president of the joint venture) arrived in February and explained the project to us only in words. Without even a slide… And then he set the goal of making an electric car in two years. I worked in a large company that, despite productive firepower, took 5 years to develop a hybrid. And there are already few … I said to myself: either containers of money arrive here or I see it hard … ".
And in fact, not only the money needed to start the business has not been seen ("We are all stuck with suppliers to whom the company has 30 million euros in debt. There is no money to work with software. No one has any more seen Krane and no one from the Chinese governance has ever come here. Which then the very simple question is: why if the Chinese have 15% of the team, are they the ones who have to put the money and not the Americans? "), but it even seems finished the treasury to pay salaries and there is talk of derisory figures for a company that should develop electric supercars, given that the arrears of less than 20 employees amount to one hundred thousand euros ("The first alarm bell was when the top managers they went. They smelled the 'stink' before us, because they had a lot more back months than us employees ").
SILK-FAW BACK ALSO WITH THE RENTAL OF THE TECHNOPOL
In all likelihood, the source of the Resto del Carlino refers to Amedeo Felisa and Roberto Fedel , both in the meantime moved to Aston Martin. After all, the managers would be 5 months behind. The situation has become so incandescent that in the last hours the company's CEO, Giovanni Lamorte has broken the long silence by asking the employees to suspend the lawsuit to prevent the company from going upside down even before it was started. . To all this is added the denunciation of the Reggio M5S: Silk-Faw would also be behind by three months' rent for the premises of the Technopole , argue the pentastellati, on the basis of documents obtained from various accesses to the records.
"From the contracts – explains the pentastellata municipal councilor, Paola Soragni – it emerges that on 10 June 2021, Silk-Faw rented two spaces at the Tecnopolo for a total of 413 square meters from Stu Reggiane". Stu – a company 70% owned by the Municipality of Reggio and 30% by Iren Smart Solutions "had only 213 square meters of its own – continues Soragni – while the remaining 200 are owned by Ghg, the Albinea company of the former municipal councilor in the Delrio council, Graziano Grasselli. Just the day before the two spaces were leased to Silk-Faw, Stu Reggiane rented the premises belonging to Ghg. Subletting it accordingly to Silk-Faw, together with the other office ”.
Also from the papers, it emerges that “Stu Reggiane pays € 20,000 in annual rent to Ghg. While Silk Faw should pay 34 thousand a year to Stu for the two spaces. But it turns out that the last quarter was not paid. Since therefore Stu does not receive money and being publicly owned, we would like to understand if there is a damage to the tax authorities ”, Soragni denounces .
THE M5S DOUBTS ABOUT THE BOTTOMS
"We want the European Commission to clarify the bank payments of Silk Faw in Italy and on compliance with European laws against money laundering" and "we also want to verify compliance with European regulations on Chinese financing for this project", reads a note signed by the MEP of the 5 Star Movement, Sabrina Pignedoli , who at the beginning of March presented a written question in Brussels on “an operation with many obscure points, enthusiastically supported by the Emilia-Romagna Region”.
"The only certainty of the project – motivates the pentastellata – is an abnormal consumption of land, 320 thousand square meters, for a plant that was created to produce electric luxury sports cars, but which, according to the Chamber of Commerce inquiries, could tomorrow become anything. The transaction is funded through a company based in the Cayman Islands tax haven. In the face of promised money and jobs, the Emilia-Romagna Region has already given 4.5 million euros of European funds, while the municipality of Reggio Emilia has renounced urbanization costs for a similar amount. In addition, the green light was given to the project without an environmental impact assessment. The Faw company has a less than glorious precedent in Europe: the bankrupt Byton project started in Germany in 2016 with former BMW and Nissan executives, which failed in 2019, with 1500 layoffs. But Faw, who acquired the know-how, now produces and sells his SUV around the world. Even the Emilian plant puts Made in Italy at risk ”, continued MEP Pignedoli .
THE FEARS OF LEGAMBIENTE
And then there are the qualms of environmentalists. Daniele Bigi , president of WWF Emilia Centrale, wrote in October: “The Silk-Faw factory has the ambition of becoming the iconic cathedral of the Motor Valley. It will occupy 360 thousand square meters of surface in the hamlet of Gavassa ", underlining how" of these, only the smallest part will be reserved for production, while most will be dedicated to the construction of a test track, a 5-star hotel, shops and areas experiential for adults and children. A sort of Disneyland of luxury automotive. According to reports from the Silk Faw itself, which recently presented the preliminary environmental study, neither the production and transformation of metals nor the production of cells for the batteries of electric vehicles, which will then be imported, are planned in Gavassa.
So Bigi , like the 5Stelle MEP, emphasized the German precedent: "An interesting aspect is related to the name that severes ties with China: the brand will no longer be Hongqi (red flag, in Chinese) but another from decide. As is known, the Hongqi S9 was presented in Europe, for the first time, at the Frankfurt Motor Show, in September 2019, and should have been put into production in 2021 in Germany, in collaboration with Byton Faw, a Sino-German joint venture. American, born in 2017 and bankrupt in February 2021, without ever producing a single car and leaving 1,500 people at home, according to its founder Carsten Breitfeld, due to interference from the Beijing government ".
THE INVESTIGATION OF THE JUDICIARY
According to the Gazzetta di Reggio , a local lawyer and politician, Gianluca Vinci of the Brothers of Italy, also moved, with the intention of prodding the judiciary into using its means to shed light on the continuous references in the purchase of the land and in the start of the project which, as we have seen, may already have created some damage to the public coffers, although at least the 4.5 million euros of funds guaranteed by the Region led by Stefano Bonaccin i have been frozen, pending of the laying of the first stone.
THE MANY PENDING QUESTIONS
“The fact that upstream of the whole operation there is a company based in the Cayman Islands, casts long shadows on the transparency of this whole operation”, writes ReggioSera . “Mister Jonathan Krane, financier based in the Cayman Islands, deus ex machina of this whole operation, made us answer, at the time, that the biggest Chinese banks were behind them. Certainly, so far, the only money that has circulated is the 16 million euro loan made at the beginning of 2021 to Jonathan Krane's Silk Ev Cayman Lp, based in the Cayman Islands, which expired on January 28, 2022 [ …] How does a company that does not have the money to pay two months' wages to 17 employees (we are talking about just over 100 thousand euros) and that must return 15 million euros to stipulate a deed (always postponed, in fact) of 30 million euros and making an investment of over one billion euros in Gavassa, remains a mystery ”.
THE SILK-FAW ASSURANCE: IT STARTS ON SEPTEMBER 5TH
The date to be circled in red would now be 5 September. At least according to the latest news that had arrived from Silk-Faw itself in the last part of July, at the end of a discussion requested by the regional councilor for economic development, Vincenzo Colla : "Silk Sports Car Company confirmed that the purchase of the land of Gavassa, on which the company will also establish its headquarters and innovation center, will be concluded on August 5 and that during the week of September 5, together with an acceleration of research and development activities, a ceremony of start of work in which representatives of the top management of Faw and Silk EV will participate. The administrations of the Emilia-Romagna Region and of the city of Reggio Emilia will maintain a central role in this historic collaboration between Italy, China and the United States of America in order to guarantee the achievement of long-term strategic objectives ”. In short, in a week, we will know if the Silk-Faw sports cars and EV SUVs will leave for real, but now the unconfessable fear of the Emilians and local politicians is that they have already been left on foot and to find out in the worst way the next September 5th.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/smartcity/le-auto-ev-silk-faw-non-partono-ecco-i-ritardi-della-gigafactory/ on Mon, 29 Aug 2022 09:12:12 +0000.