Who slashed Porsche’s tires?
The project to expand the Technical Center in Nardò, in the province of Lecce, owned by Porsche, ends up off track. In Salento the German company would have liked to test the cars of tomorrow, but after the 'no' from the EU (which speaks of a "significant negative impact") the Region immediately withdrew and reneged on the approval for the project
New hard blow to the Italian automotive industry. The disengagement of Stellantis, the absence of industrial plans on the mobility of the future and the flight of possible investors in gigafactories and battery hubs were not enough (remember the collapse, not only of the respective projects, but also of companies like Italvolt which would have had to set up its own hub in Piedmont and Silk-Faw in Emilia Romagna), now the European Commission has advanced strong reservations on the project to expand the Nardò track, in the province of Lecce, and the structures of the Technical Center owned by Porsche. A rejection that immediately caused the Region to stand firm (which had already given the OK to the work) and therefore the Stuttgart company's return to the pits of the Salento plan. But let's go in order.
TECHNOLOGY WOULD LIKE TO RACE ON THE NARDÒ TRACK
Porsche, in outlining its plans for the mobility of the future, has chosen the Nardò Technical Center to test the technologies that we will only see on the road in several years. The track, which is located in the middle of the Apulian countryside a few kilometers from Porto Cesareo, has been owned by the German manufacturer since 2012 and is managed by Porsche Engineering , which in 2021 launched a substantial expansion plan.
The Nardò Technical Center currently occupies an area of 7 million square meters for 12.6 kilometres. The original route was commissioned by Fiat as a high-speed test track in the early 1970s and was then inaugurated in 1975. At the beginning it was called "Sasn", an acronym for "Società Autopiste Sperimentali Nardò". Subsequently it changed the name to Fiat Centro Test.
From 1999 to 2012 it was owned by Prototipo Technologies of Trofarello. Subsequently, in 2012 the test center was sold to Porsche Engineering. With two separate rings, cars and motorcycles are tested at high speed. The external ring has four lanes for cars and motorbikes with an inclination varying between 4% and 22.5%, for a total of 16 meters wide, while the internal one, for trucks, has a width of 9 metres.
In 2002, a new circuit was inaugurated to test driving comfort and noise levels, to which, in 2008, a new handling track was added. Here, in just a few weeks, it is possible to obtain, for example, data on corrosion resistance over the entire life cycle of a car or to reproduce the climatic conditions of different countries and regions, such as African off-road tracks or wet roadways .
The German company, owner of the Apulian structure, is investing further to modernize the tracks and infrastructure so as to be able to test the assisted driving systems and the new electric powertrains on the circuit. The objective is also to be able to test the cars without the presence of drivers on board. A meritorious objective considering that a fatal accident took place in Nardò on February 21st which involved a test driver employed by an external company.
THE GERMAN PROJECTS FOR THE LECCESE CENTER
Porsche's project for the Nardò Technical Center involves the construction of nine more tracks compared to the 20 already existing, new buildings for technical tests and to house the administrative staff, a canteen, a car park, a new logistics and maintenance centre, a station service centre, an assessment and check-in centre, an air rescue runway and a medical centre.
THE FRAUD OVER THE EXPANSION
All very nice, especially in a country like ours where the automotive industry engine is sobbing and the government is struggling to find alternative investors to Stellantis. However, when Porsche presented the plans for a further expansion of Nardò, the problems began.
Starting from the hail of stamped papers and appeals rained down by the landowners surrounding the structure and who are not willing to see their gardens and countryside taken away by the expropriation for public utility granted by the Puglia Region as part of the program to strengthen the test center Salento. The expansion program of the Nardò Technical Center in fact involves the expropriation of 351 hectares of land, mostly in use by agricultural companies, belonging to 134 private individuals.
In recent months Agi had collected the testimony of Carlo Castellaneta, owner of a large dairy company that owns around 700 heads of cattle: "If they were to take away from us, as expected, about twenty hectares of land would bring us to our knees. Therefore, I am ready to hand over the keys to the company to the President of the Region, Michele Emiliano. There are many of us who protest against this method which deprives us of our properties even if we don't want to sell."
EVEN ENVIRONMENTALISTS (BUT NOT ALL) SAY "NO"
The project has also been contested by environmentalists according to whom it would cause the loss of a centuries-old forest of over 200 hectares of enormous naturalistic value. To be precise, it would end up undermining both the Palude del Conte regional reserve and the Arneo forest that surround it.
On this matter, however, environmentalists were divided: alongside those calling for havoc, Legambiente stood out and even spoke of opportunities for the relaunch of the neighboring protected areas. An inconsistency immediately highlighted, for example, by Fatto Quotidiano which a few weeks ago had the headline: "The paradox of the Porsche Center in Nardò: German environmentalists protest, Italian ones sit at the table and give the green light to expansion".
EVEN THE EU AGAINST THE EXPANSION OF NARDÒ
The EU comes to the aid of breeders, farmers and environmentalists: "If the primary aim of the project – the opinion of Brussels – had been linked to these public health needs, the alternative options to be evaluated should have directly concerned these objectives, taking into account these needs. Instead, the alternatives that have been taken into consideration clearly refer to the development needs of the Nardò Technical Center and in particular to the needs to modernize and expand the test center's tracks. From an examination of all the available documentation, the justification of the project for reasons related to public health and safety is not considered appropriate. In fact – concludes the European Commission – the project appears to have a pre-eminent economic interest”.
THE REGION IS GONE
The Region for its part, already caught up in other disputes and embarrassments, with 58 Municipalities voting between 8 and 9 June, did not want to remain holding the hot potato and immediately abandoned Porsche: "The President of the Puglia Region , Michele Emiliano, has decided to suspend the Nardò technical center (NTC) program agreement which provides for the expansion of the Porsche testing track in the province of Lecce", reads the latest press release on the subject.
A decision which saw the body go back on its word and which is therefore motivated as follows: "We have taken a decision in line with the ministry, in order to reconsider some aspects of the procedure following the specific indications provided by the European Commission". Porsche's race for the expansion of Nardò therefore seems to end in the usual somewhat chaotic and somewhat grotesque way, with bursts of 'no' from every association and body. With the risk that the planned investments will be made elsewhere, in other countries where the Stuttgart company has its own plants.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/smartcity/porsche-progetto-ampliamento-technical-center-nardo/ on Wed, 03 Apr 2024 06:08:20 +0000.