Italy is talking with Tesla and other car makers aside from Stellantis

Italy is talking with electric vehicle firm Tesla and Chinese car makers such as BYD to pick a second car maker aside from Stellantis.

Italian government aimed to produce 1.3 million vehicles per year and it is looking for a second player to fill the rest of the supplies alongside Stellantis.

The car group produced 750,000 vehicles last year for the Italian market including 520k passenger cars and 230k vans. France also shared a similar production rate of 735,000 units last year.

Industry Minister Adolfo Urso has been engaging with Tesla for months and requires it to adjust plans for Europe. The government on the other hand is also talking to three Chinese car makers since last year to asses potential investment opportunities.

Within the 1 million sales, the country wants to ramp up car production to 1 million and vans to 300,000 to increase industry growth. Urso said that Stellantis alone may not be able to achieve the 1 million car production for Italy.

The latest news appeared amid the Italian government’s showing strict stand on Stellantis. The carmaker which accounts for nearly all of Italy’s car supplies wants the Italian government to increase subsidies and policy support to operate in other countries.

Similarly, the US has offered Stellantis to not close its Jeep plant in Illionoise which produces midsize pickup trucks.

For now, there are not conclusion announced from these conversations.

(source – Bloomberg)