Italian passenger car production tumbled yet again in June and in the first half of the year, Kallanish notes from local carmakers association Associazione Nazionale Filiera Industria Automobilistica (Anfia) preliminary data.
Car output fell year-on-year by as much as 54.3% in June to 25,110 units, and by 32.2% on-year in January-June to 202,282 units.
By comparison, German six-month output declined by 6% to 2 million units, and by 9% to 350,200 cars in June. The UK recorded a notable fall in June of 26.6% to 62,231 cars and a 7.6% decline to 416,074 units in January-June. Spain’s June car production decreased by 7.2% to 175,580 cars and by 5% to 1m cars in January-June, Anfia points out.
Anfia is collaborating with the government and Stellantis to define a roadmap for the automotive industry’s relaunch. It aims at boosting Italy’s automotive production capacity beyond the level of 1 million vehicles/year through state support on decarbonisation, research and development, and new production plant investments (see Kallanish passim).
According to a Fim-Cisl union document, Stellantis’ production in Italy during the first half of this year saw a significant decline of 25.2%, resulting in the manufacturing of 305,510 vehicles.
“Anfia hopes that the agreement with Stellantis can be concluded in a very short time with the concrete commitment to increase national production – unfortunately, the production of cars and light commercial vehicles in Italy in the first half of 2024 reached around 300,000 units, down 25% compared to the same period in 2023, and no volume recovery is expected for the second part of the year,” Anfia president Roberto Vavassori says in a note obtained by Kallanish.
He urges Stellantis not to abandon strategic research and innovation activities and to strengthen relationships with the Italian supply chain instead of choosing “ultra-low cost countries’ suppliers”.
The current downturn in the domestic and European automotive industries is having a negative impact on sales performance and prices of EU coil in the third quarter. According to Italian industry insiders, there are expectations of a further decline in values and volumes in the coming weeks due to reduced consumption downstream. The market remains subdued this week after the summer break, a source says. He adds that coil buyers will be in a wait-and-see mood.
Natalia Capra France
