Stellantis, Elkann: 'Olivetti fate avoided, invested 14 billion in 5 years'

"Let's look at the facts: our destiny 20 years ago was Olivetti, one of the great realities of our country. Which, with the succession of different ownerships, mismanagement and financial engineering taking the place of product engineering, no longer exists today'. This was said by Stellantis chairman John Elkann in an interview with Avvenire, pointing out that 'another possibility, equally unfortunate, was nationalisation, as in the case of Alitalia or Ilva. Instead, this was not the case: today our companies employ more than 74 thousand people in Italy, where we have invested 14 billion in the last five years, creating competitive products on world markets. I still remember our excitement at seeing the first Jeeps roll off the lines in Melfi and the ships that had been purchased to transport them from Basilicata to America'.

Elkann also stressed that 'Mirafiori in recent years has benefited from investments that have allowed the start-up of additional activities to car production: we have inaugurated the research and test centre for electric batteries, the production of electrified transmissions, the sustainable office campus and the centre for the circular economy. In this context, 'our relationship with the Italian government, as well as with the governments of all the countries where we operate, is one of utmost respect, always seeking dialogue. And we are always ready to confront each other, to share our perspectives and those of the countries where we operate,' Elkann said.

As for the Agnelli inheritance issue, John Elkann assured that 'with my brother and sister we have full confidence in the Italian judiciary. It's a situation that has been going on for 20 years, ever since 2004, at the height of the crisis we were talking about, my whole family, out of a sense of responsibility, rallied around Fiat, carrying out my grandfather's wishes. The only one to call out was my mother. And instead of being happy, for Fiat, for her family, for the realisation of her father's will, she reacted in the worst way'. Elkann stressed that he was living the situation 'with great pain, which has distant roots. Together with my siblings Lapo and Ginevra, we suffered physical and psychological violence from our mother from an early age. This created a protective relationship on the part of our grandparents'. From a personal point of view, the president said, 'despite the fact that my work takes me mostly out of Italy, we decided with my wife to live in Turin: our children were born here, and here they were baptised and go to school. Our roots are in Turin, an area to which we feel attached and in which we continue to strengthen our social commitment'.