A few days ago, Carlos Tavares, CEO of European automaker Stellantis, said that Stellantis may have to close some of its Italian factories if Chinese competitors are allowed to produce cars in Italy.
He pointed out that "the introduction of Chinese competition is a huge threat to Stellantis, we will fight, but when you fight there can be casualties, but don't expect us to win without a trace".
The cause of the incident is that the Italian Minister of Industry Adolfo Urso recently said that Italy is negotiating with Tesla and three Chinese automakers, with the aim of attracting at least one Chinese car company to invest in setting up factories to achieve the country's planned goal of producing 1.3 million cars per year. According to foreign media reports, the three Chinese car companies are BYD, Chery and Great Wall Motor.
The competitiveness of local enterprises has declined
Although Italy is not a strong car country in Europe with a mature industrial system, it is undeniable that Italy still has many well-known car brands.
Well-known brands such as Fiat, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati, Alfa Romeo, Bugatti and Iveco are all from Italy.
However, since the 80s of the last century, with the recovery of British, French and German industries and the rapid development of the Asian tigers, Italy's industrial competitiveness has declined sharply.
In order to cope with market competition, a number of Italian supercar brands have either downsized or been acquired by leading car manufacturers. In 2021, with the merger of Fiat, Italy's largest civilian car brand, and Peugeot to form the Stellantis Group, Italy's local automotive industry is also on the verge of extinction.
According to statistics, as the only major car manufacturer in Italy, the Stellantis Group (which owns Italian car brands such as Fiat, Maserati, and Alfa Romeo) produced a total of about 750,000 cars in Italy in 2023, including 520,000 passenger cars and 230,000 vans.
As a result, domestic car production in Italy was less than 800,000 units last year. The Italian government wants to raise this figure to 1.3 million units.
More importantly, since the merger with Peugeot, Tang Weishi, the current head of the Stellantis Group, has always shown a clear inclination towards the Peugeot Citroen Group, where he once worked.
In line with the Group's cost-reduction and efficiency strategy, Stellantis is considering shifting the production of small electric vehicles under development from EU member states (mainly France and Italy) to Morocco and Serbia. The plan will undoubtedly further reduce the output of Italy's own automotive industry.
At the end of January, Italian Prime Minister Meloni also harshly criticized Stellantis' move to low-cost countries at a time when the auto industry is struggling to shift to electrification.
Stellantis seems unmoved, though. In response to the Italian government's dissatisfaction, Tang Weishi said that the group's long-term goal is to become one of the most profitable manufacturers in the world, so it is only considering producing high-end cars in countries such as France and Italy, and shifting the production of cheaper, lower-margin models to other regions.
According to foreign media reports, a few days ago, Stellantis has reached a voluntary agreement with its workers in a number of factories in Italy, and the company will lay off at least 2,500 people in Italy to adapt to the changes required by the transformation of the automotive industry to electrification.
This time, the Italian government earnestly hopes that Chinese car companies or Tesla can invest and build factories in Italy, obviously to maintain the competitiveness of the country's auto industry, and drive the country's economic recovery and increase employment.
On the other hand, the transition to electrification may also be an opportunity for Italy to revitalize its automotive industry. In 2023, Italy's electric vehicle sales will only account for about 6% of the country's overall car sales, which is far behind other European countries such as the United Kingdom, France and Germany. To this end, the Italian government introduced a replacement subsidy at the end of last year, providing a subsidy of 1,500-13,000 euros for consumers who exchange fuel vehicles for new energy vehicles.
Under this premise, if it can successfully recruit the world's top new energy manufacturers, it will also help them to improve the relevant industrial chain enterprises while building factories, so as to surpass other European industrial countries.
There are still obstacles for Chinese car companies to go overseas
Of course, although in recent years, Chinese automobiles have won an excellent window to go overseas by virtue of their first-mover advantage in the field of new energy. However, there are still many constraints to building factories in overseas markets.
Relevant experts said that when car companies build factories overseas, they should not only consider whether the sales volume of the market can meet the requirements of building factories, but also consider the supply chain, transportation, as well as practical factors such as the policy environment, the quality of workers, and legal norms.
Among the car companies invited this time, BYD took the lead in responding: We are not currently discussing adding a factory in Italy. Similarly, Chery and Great Wall have not expressed clear interest in this.
In fact, the advantages of Chinese car companies in the field of new energy have long been recognized by countries around the world, and at present, Southeast Asia, Russia and even Japan have been active in the presence of Chinese electric vehicle companies.
Overseas car companies are also making up for their own shortcomings in electrification and intelligence by cooperating with Chinese car companies and supply chains.
Last year, Stellantis reached an agreement with Leapmotor to try to introduce small and micro vehicles to the European market to help the group improve its competitiveness in the European affordable electric car market. Volkswagen and BMW threw hydrangeas to Chinese companies early, looking forward to making up for the shortcomings as soon as possible.
Relevant experts pointed out that if the partners are open to cooperation, it will be able to achieve a win-win situation, but from a practical point of view, strong product power is bound to cause resistance in the local market, such as the United States introduced the "Inflation Reduction Act", the European Union for China's import of electric vehicles "anti-subsidy" investigation, have added obstacles to China's new energy vehicles to the world.
While building a factory in Europe may be able to avoid some trade risks, there may also be some non-trade barriers and restrictions, after all, in the face of the speed at which Western politicians are changing faces, the enthusiasm of the current Italian government may also become a pawn in its side at any time.
In addition, even if the Italian government has a firm direction for the auto industry, it is also worth thinking about what kind of choice Italy will make between "pro-son" and "strong foreign aid" in the face of Stellantis' repeated obstruction of Chinese car companies.
In 2022, when GAC FCA withdrew from China, Tang Weishi detained the "pot" on "the partner's non-compliance with the joint venture agreement". Perhaps it was also from this point in that Tang Weishi's resistance to Chinese car companies was created.
At last year's CES (International Consumer Electronics Show), Tang Weishi made it clear: "The competition between European and Chinese car companies is at a crossroads, and if the EU and European car companies do not take action, then the European auto industry will experience a terrible battle." ”
He then suggested that "at present, Chinese brands must pay a 10% tariff on exports to the EU, while European automakers must pay 15% to 25% tariffs on European-made cars exported to China." We should ask the EU to impose the same conditions and rules on Chinese automakers as Western automakers compete in China. ”
As Tang Weishi threatened Turin and the unions this time: "The arrival of competitors has led to a reduction in the market share of Italian leaders like us, and in addition, if we lose market share, we will also need fewer factories. "The strong competitiveness of China's new energy vehicle companies will not only bring opportunities to the local industry, but also greatly intensify the competitive pressure of local car companies.
Relevant experts pointed out that if Chinese car companies want to invest and build factories overseas, they must seek more bargaining weight around the industrial chain, supply chain and policy support, so as to get the "sword of Shangfang" for future survival and development. So as to strengthen their own market competitiveness.