Stellantis, for city cars the contest will be between the Mirafiori and Pomigliano sites

Staying in the running to produce mass market models in Italy and confirming the battery production hub in the current Termoli engine plant. These are the two industrial challenges for Italy in view of the next ministerial round table dedicated to the automotive sector and, more generally, to Stellantis' future strategies for the country. These are two industrial dossiers with a far from foregone conclusion, which could find a solution not next week but in the coming months. Jean Philippe Imparato, the Group's number one in Europe, is taking his time on the possibility of installing the new Stellantis Small platform in Italy for the production of the new generation of segment B cars for the Group, but he did assure one thing during the last meeting in Turin with the trade unions: 'Italy will certainly have production in a mass segment, not only at Mirafiori, but we will come back to talk about this on the 17th in Rome. Mirafiori, then, alongside Pomigliano, perhaps, and the Panda universe.

For the time being, the Mirafiori plant, which in the last two years has secured a series of new industrial missions such as the Battery Lab or the Centre for Circular Economy, is now in its 18th year in a row of social shock absorbers and has closed the agreement for the solidarity contract, until next summer, for the employees of the 500 line (one thousand) and Maserati (about 800). The Fiat 500 family is being redefined along three lines. The bev version of the iconic city car in the hands of Stellantis is now in its fourth year, with declining sales and production lines at a standstill for months (until September this year, production was only 20,000 500s). Stellantis has announced an overhaul - the 500 bev Technical refresh - which should be ready in 2027 and will feature a Chinese-supplied electric motor borrowed from the bev models of former Psa brands on a Stla Small platform and a factory-made battery pack. The mandate given to the engineers of the central bodies is to reduce production costs by 50%, a feat that is anything but trivial;

The new Fiat 500 hybrid, on the other hand, should go into production in November and bring a dowry of 100,000 units per year. Design work is underway with all the difficulties arising from the need to develop an endothermic mini-hybrid model on the same platform as the 500 bev. The last direction anticipated by Imparato himself at the Turin meeting is the development of the new 500 bev family, starting in 2030.

In parallel, the city car game for Stellantis could also involve the Panda, one of Fiat's longest-lived models. Pomigliano alone guarantees almost 60% of the Group's Italian production and Panda has continued to grow this year, with 110,900 units up to the end of September, 17% more than in 2023. The Panda will remain in Pomigliano until 2029, Stellantis management assured. The bet is that Pomigliano will also remain the home of the Panda of the future.

Finally, the Italian gigafactory. The project first assigned to Termoli and then put on standby due to market uncertainties, remains a key issue for the future of the Italian automotive industry. And not only for the reconversion of an engine factory, which will in any case see a halt to production of the Fire engine from next year after more than thirty years of honourable service.