During a parliamentary session, Industry Minister Adolfo Urso stated, “We’re getting positive feedback” regarding the discussions.
The only significant carmaker in Italy, Stellantis, produces 520,000 passenger cars and 230,000 vans annually. Stellantis’ brands include Fiat and Alfa Romeo.
Urso stated that Tesla and Rome had communicated “for months” and that Tesla would need to reevaluate its strategy for the European market.
Three major Chinese automakers, whose officials came to Italy last year to evaluate possible investment opportunities, were also in talks with the government.
Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla, gave a speech at a political event in Rome in December that was sponsored by the Brothers of Italy party, which is affiliated with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
The minister stated that in order to maintain its national auto industry in the face of problems brought on by the shift to electric mobility, Italy needed to produce at least 1.3 million vehicles annually, or one million passenger cars and 300,000 vans.
“We are aware that it is impossible for Stellantis alone to reach the target of one million cars produced in Italy,” he stated.
Talks between Stellantis and the government are already underway with the goal of getting the nation’s vehicle and van production back to one million units annually by the end of this decade—a level last reached in 2017.
Michael Shu, BYD’s (002594.SZ) managing director for Europe, was cited by Bloomberg News this week as claiming that Rome has reached out to the Chinese EV manufacturer in an attempt to draw in a second producer.
The conversations were not recent, according to a BYD source who spoke with Reuters. At the time, the company was still considering its choices for its first European facility, which it ultimately chose to construct in Hungary. If BYD intends to build a second factory in Europe, such information is currently unknown.
