©Reuters. File photo: The new Fiat Panda and Fiat 500 mild hybrid cars are seen at Piazza Maggiore in Bologna, Italy, on February 4, 2020.Reuters/Flavio Lo Scalzo//File photo
ROME (Reuters) – The Italian government’s acquisition of a stake in Fiat’s parent company Stellantis is not on the table but could happen if the carmaker requests it, Industry Minister Adolfo Urso said on Friday. .
Mr Urso raised the possibility of Rome buying shares in Stellantis on February 1st amid a spat over Stellantis’ involvement in Italy, but the two sides have since taken steps to ease tensions. He is making conciliatory statements.
“Today (…) it is clear that this is off the table,” the minister said in an interview with RAI public radio.
“If the company says, ‘We absolutely need an Italian public offering,’ it’s clear that there will be a debate, a conflict, but that’s not what’s on the agenda today,” Urso added.
Stellantis Chairman John Elkann said in June that the company does not need the Italian state as a shareholder.
Stellantis was formed in 2021 through the merger of French Peugeot maker PSA and Italian-American Fiat Chrysler and accounts for almost all of Italy’s car production.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has repeatedly accused the group of putting French interests ahead of Italian ones, calling its creation a “suspicious” merger that “actually disguised itself as a French takeover”. It was explained that. The French government owns 6% of Stellantis.
But Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares on Thursday reiterated the company’s agreement with Rome to increase production in Italy from about 750,000 cars last year to 1 million cars by the end of 2010. Ta.
His comments appeared to allay concerns about possible closures of factories in Italy, particularly those at the Mirafiori complex in Turin and Pomigliano near Naples.