No to Italy, Chery’s first European plant

In a long discussion on the state of the Italian car industry, which sees the government and Stellantis sitting at the same table, the Minister of Trade and Made in Italy Adolfo Urso recently announced that eight car manufacturers are ready to invest. open a plant in Italy. One of these is undoubtedly the Chinese Chery, which intends to “destroy” the European market with the new Omoda brand. In the last few hours, however, take a cold shower: Chery will land in Europe, but anchor in Spain.

According to he writes According to the Reuters news agency, the Chinese group has actually chosen Barcelona for its new factory. The agreement between Chery and the political leaders of Catalonia would now be domestic, and could be finalized in the next few hours.

The Chinese manufacturer will take over Nissan’s defunct Catalan plant, absorbing some of the 1,600 workers laid off by the Japanese giant. The acquisition will be favored by providing some government incentives, incentives that are linked to European funds after COVID.

It should be noted that neither Chery nor the Catalan authorities have confirmed the agreement, but according to senior officials with sufficient information from the Spanish region, they are already in China to sign the documents.

Urso: “The government has already given, now it’s the turn of Stellantis. Eight producers are ready to come to Italy”

As mentioned, Chery’s arrival in Spain would represent a major blow to the company’s strategy The Italian government, which aims to put another producer together with Stellantis. The opening of a foreign brand is actually one of the ways that the government intends to take to increase the number of cars produced in Italy and, therefore, to protect the number of workers in the sector.

The article with Chery seems to be similar to the one that happened with the arrival of BYD Auto in Europe. Even in that case there was talk of a close Italian engagement, but even in that event no conclusion was reached. BYD Auto then chose Hungary for its first European plant.

Not only BYD: the government is also negotiating with Tesla for a factory in Italy. And Germany’s problems help us