by Giuseppe Fonte and Giulio Piovaccari
ROME (Reuters) – Stellantis will keep all its Italian factories open and increase production from 2026 with the launch of new models, the carmaker’s deputy general manager for wider Europe, Jean-Philippe Imparato, announced on Tuesday.
Italian Industry Minister Adolfo Urso also pledged that Italy would spend more than a billion euros next year to support its struggling auto sector, turning the page on months of strained relations with Stellantis, which owns the Fiat brand.
Adolfo Urso organized a meeting in Rome with representatives of Stellantis, suppliers and unions to seal a deal to revive Italian car production.
Stellantis will produce at least two small models at its Italian factory in Pomigliano, in southern Italy, where the automaker will introduce its new 100% electric “STLA Small” platform from 2028, said Jean-Philippe Imparato.
The Stellantis Europe boss also indicated that the Jeep Compass, Lancia Gamma and DS7 – three mid-size models whose production should begin at the Melfi plant in southern Italy from 2025 – will be manufactured in fully electric and hybrid versions.
The atmosphere between Stellantis, parent company of Fiat and Alfa Romeo, and Italy’s right-wing government has quickly improved following the abrupt resignation this month of Stellantis chief Carlos Tavares.
Italian politicians have repeatedly accused Carlos Tavares of neglecting the country’s historic production sites and moving production of new Fiat and Alfa Romeo models abroad.
Stellantis is the only major automaker in Italy, where it employs around 40,000 people.
Automotive production on Italian soil – cars and vans – should fall below 500,000 vehicles this year, according to estimates from the FIM-Cisl union, compared to 751,000 in 2023.
Stellantis also promised to invest two billion euros in Italy in 2025.
Since the departure of Carlos Tavares, Stellantis president John Elkann has been working to renew dialogue in the three main geographic regions of the group born from the merger between PSA and FCA. After visiting the United States and Italy, he met French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysée on Monday, who in turn underlined the importance of France’s place within Stellantis.
(Reporting by Giulio Piovaccari in Milan and Giuseppe Fonte in Rome; Florence Loève, editing by Gilles Guillaume)
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