The Italian government has given Stellantis hundreds of millions of dollars to build a battery plant, but the country may pull that funding if the automaker doesn’t firmly commit to the project. It warned that it would move funds elsewhere if the company isn’t willing or able to follow through on its promise to build the facility, but the joint venture between Stellantis and others delayed the factory and others earlier this year.
Italian industry minister Adolfo Urso said, “Stellantis must give us a reply, and it must do so shortly. If Stellantis does not give us a positive feedback within hours, we’ll move the funds elsewhere. We can’t afford to lose these funds because Stellantis is not sticking to its commitments. The government did its part, the company did not.”
To be fair, the Stellantis partnership group hasn’t killed the project. Its announcement earlier this year stated that it would revise its plans for sites in Italy and Germany “to introduce a new technology for the production of cells and modules, to be in line with the evolution of the market.”
Italy has been at odds with Stellantis for a while. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has pushed the automaker to focus more on the Italian market, forcing it to remove the country’s flag from vehicles made in Morocco and heavily criticizing the merger between France’s PSA and Fiat-Chrysler, which formed Stellantis back in 2021.
[Images: Stellantis]
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