Not just Byd, here are the Chinese houses courted by Meloni and Urso
Meloni wants to bring at least a second car manufacturer to Italy: the government has started talks with the Chinese Byd and the American Tesla. But there would be 4 other Chinese companies more or less interested. And Urso says that.. All the details
Not only BYD in the government's plans.
Giorgia Meloni's executive intends to attract at least a second car manufacturer to Italy to balance the disengagement of Stellantis – to date the only one present in our country, owner of brands such as Fiat, Alfa Romeo and Maserati – and fuel competition in the field.
As revealed by Bloomberg , the government has contacted the Chinese automaker BYD with the aim of concluding an investment deal. The company did not rule out the possibility, but specified that it "will depend on our sales" in Europe. BYD confirmed plans for a first electric vehicle plant on the continent – in Hungary , to be precise – just a few months ago.
To develop the national automotive supply chain and encourage the establishment of a new manufacturer in Italy, the Meloni government has developed an incentive program, the "Automotive Fund", with resources of around 6 billion euros .
INTEREST IN TOYOTA
The foreign company that Palazzo Chigi would prefer to have in Italy seems to be the Japanese Toyota: this is what Giuseppe Sabella, director of Oikonova, claims . And yet Toyota, despite its interest in expanding into the European market, has not confirmed any plans to install production capacity in our country.
THE TALKS WITH TESLA
At a hearing in the Chamber, Business Minister Adolfo Urso said that the government is in contact with Tesla and that from the talks "we are having very positive feedback. But it is a process that requires caution,” he added.
The minister hinted that Italy could take advantage of the vote against the city of Grünheide, Germany, against Tesla's plan to expand its large Berlin-Brandenburg plant. The rejection, according to Urso, "will certainly involve a decision by the automotive group, which therefore – but we are in the field of possibilities – could decide to turn to Italy.
There seems to be a certain personal-ideological affinity between the CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk, and the president Giorgia Meloni Tesla, so much so that Musk even participated in Atreju , the political event of Fratelli d'Italia.
CHINESE AUTOMOTIVE MANUFACTURERS PERHAPS INTERESTED IN ITALY
Besides BYD, however, there are other Chinese automakers that the government is trying to attract. There are four names listed by Corriere della Sera : Chery, Geely, SAIC Motor and, “more secluded”, Great Wall Motor.
State-owned Chery already supplies automotive components for the Molise company DR Automobiles Groupe, which specializes in import and distribution. As reported by Repubblica , Chery intends to build a plant in Europe and Italy is one of the possible destinations.
Geely, founded and controlled by Chinese billionaire Li Shufu, owns brands such as Volvo, Polestar and Lotus. In the past it has shown interest in the so-called " Motor Valley ", the industrial district in Emilia-Romagna specialized in high-performance vehicles: Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini and Pagani are based there, for example.
Chinese state-owned SAIC Motor owns the British MG brand. Andrea Bartolomeo, country manager for Italy, said that SAIC wants to open a factory in Europe and "Italy is an important market […] in the short-list of states where to build the factory". Repubblica specifies, however, that Italy would not be the Chinese group's favorite destination due to low competitiveness and higher production costs. MG is the first Chinese-owned brand by sales in Italy, with over 30,000 units in 2023.
Finally, Great Wall Motor is present on the European market with the Ora and Wey brands.
WHAT ITALY CAN OFFER
Chinese car manufacturers could be encouraged to open factories in Europe to protect themselves from possible tariffs that the European Union could impose on electric vehicles from China, into which the European Commission has opened an anti-subsidy investigation.
The European country best positioned to become the access point for Chinese companies to the EU market appears to be Hungary, mainly due to the low cost of labor compared to the rest of the Union. Italy, on the other hand, would have to offer – beyond economic incentives – disused factories to be reconverted, connectivity infrastructures such as ports and a ready-made supply chain, albeit focused on the internal combustion engine rather than electric mobility.
WHAT IS MISSING: THE SUPPLY CHAIN
The issue of the supply chain, in truth, is more complex as there are currently no relationships between Italian component suppliers and Chinese manufacturers. The latter, moreover, rely on the Chinese supply chain – the country is the world's largest producer of batteries and the largest refiner of various raw materials – or, as in the case of BYD, produce most of the components internally. BYD is not only the world's largest seller of electric cars, but also a major battery manufacturing company.
Unlike Chinese companies, Japanese Toyota is better integrated into the Italian industrial context, given that in our country, in Atessa, it already builds commercial vehicles in collaboration with Stellantis.
THE WORDS OF MINISTER URSO
In this regard, Minister Urso told Il Foglio that the government has asked BYD, as a condition for the investment, that the vehicles produced contain Italian and non-Chinese parts: "An option that is difficult for BYD to implement", he notes the newspaper.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/smartcity/byd-case-automobilistiche-cinesi-italia/ on Wed, 28 Feb 2024 09:14:54 +0000.