Dear editor,
This poster happened to come under my nose. It is, as you can see, a roundtable on the future of the car moderated by the capable Stefano Feltri. I’m telling you about it because the event surprised me because of the participants.
First of all, as you can read, there will be Francesco Zirpoli, an economist expert in automotive, certainly not delicate when it comes to talking about Stellantis: he demonstrated this by publishing his book “Self-destruction, crisis and transformation of the automobile industry” which you also reviewed on Start.
And I believe he especially demonstrated it by emphasizing that, despite the prevailing narrative of the new management of the Italo-French group, the electric car is not at all the cause of all the economic and financial troubles boasted in recent times.
Few have in fact noticed this, but the economist from Ca’ Foscari in Venice, in the Fatto Quotidiano had declared that the causes should be sought elsewhere: “Since 2019 sales in the EU market have dropped by 2.5 million units, 1.6 of which are Stellantis (-44%). Today it sells less than what PSA (Peugeot-Citroën) alone sold, which merged with Fiat Chrysler to create the group, and in a context where Toyota, not exactly a company that bet on electric, has risen by 16%. The drop in investments has brought Stellantis where it is and the signal is that nothing changes.”
Zirpoli had pointed out, effectively completely contradicting the continuous complaints of Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa that, more than the community mishaps on electric cars, Stellantis is paying for its industrial immobility: “The delay concerns all EU producers, but Stellantis does worse, in a mix of errors. The cut of pure electric platforms happens without timely investment in hybrid, late compared to, for example, Toyota. Another misstep is on software and batteries. The SoftWare X division has not kept its promises just like the Acc joint venture: billions burned but investments in these two fields are essential to compete.”
And if the Stellantis CEO talks about a 20-year delay compared to the Chinese asking Europe for regulatory interventions, Zirpoli has soundly rejected such interpretation: “We’re not there, it’s a paroxysmal representation. Europeans are not at all behind on electric patents, especially the Germans, but on investments. And there is no regulatory intervention that can save time, there is no other solution than to start investing again. Twenty years is an exaggeration and not everyone has the same delay. Maybe Filosa talks about Stellantis, it’s not the case for BMW, Renault and VW. The latter is a leader in electric in the EU.”
If he will be there, in short, I believe the event will be rather critical of Stellantis, which is a good thing, given the general media silence on the crisis of the Italian car industry.
However, what especially surprised me is the presence of another prominent speaker: the CGIL secretary, Maurizio Landini. Pretending that jokes and jabs about Landini’s presence at Bocconi, the temple of neoliberal/turbocapitalist entrepreneurship par excellence, do not immediately come to mind, I asked myself: why, all of a sudden, is Landini talking about workers? And perhaps even to workers?
So far we have heard him fight long for the No in the Justice referendum (his, let’s not forget, the Roman square of the referendum victory that hosted rather embarrassed political figures in the background, I took a photo of the TV which I attach because it seems emblematic to me), we have seen him on the front line when it came to pensions (rightly the workers’ union accompanies you even once you have left work, especially in a demographically old country like ours where retirees now outnumber active workers…) and he is always present when it’s time to fill the squares against the many wars, authoritarianisms and the “Kings”. After all, why should a union, instead of always and only taking care of metalworkers, not also poke its nose into foreign policy? Why, instead of protesting against Elkann, can’t it surprise onlookers (and perhaps members) by taking to the streets against Trump?
In fact, I remember him much less active on the front of worker protection, especially – as Carlo Calenda has long maliciously suggested – of those at Stellantis.
Far be it from me to give credit to the conspiracy theories of the Action leader who claimed that Landini had stopped taking care of the continuous closures of Italian plants, the countless days of layoffs and the industrial plans that provided no reassurance since John Elkann had bought Repubblica so as not to risk disappearing from that newspaper, a point of reference for a certain electorate. Far be it from me, I repeat, to malign in that sense. Certainly, if the CGIL leader wanted to find a way to disprove Calenda, more than the lawsuits, he might have done better to think of other communication strategies. Is it possible that he returns to address the issue just now that Exor has sold to the Greeks?
All things considered, I am not so surprised to know that Landini will be at Bocconi, but that he will talk about cars, plants in crisis, workers on layoffs and a Stellantis that seems to want to flee the country.
Better late than never.
A curious one (and at times even a bit Bocconi)
Claudio Trezzano
