Stellantis opens in Brazil and closes in Italy. Time to ask back money

Stellantis closes in Italy, a market that evidently has no interest for the French company, and opens in Brazil.
As ANSA reports, the Stellantis automotive group is starting production of the Citroën basalt in Brazil starting today at the Porto Real plant in the state of Rio de Janeiro.
For the startup and consolidation of the new production line, the factory will receive investments of 490 million euros (3 billion reais) between 2025 and 2030, the largest allocation in recent years in Porto Real.

The Basalt, which meets new trends in Brazil’s coupe SUV market, was developed in South America and comes to complete the French brand’s C-Cubed family of compact cars, along with the C3 and the New Aircross.
”
It is the icing on the cake,” Citroën’s vice president for South America, Felipe Daemon, told ANSA.
“No doubt we will also have many other interesting innovations in the coming years. Solutions that will make the product range even more adapted and ready to meet the needs of the market not only in Brazil, but also in the region as a whole,” he added.

The 490 million euros promised by Stellantis for Porto Real is part of the 4.9 billion euro (30 billion reais) investment round in Brazil between 2025 and 2030, the largest contribution in the history of the automotive industry in South America. Also added to this figure are the approximately 326 million euros (2 billion reais) earmarked for plants in Argentina during the period.

Bye Bye Termoli’s Battery factory

According to the Italian daily La Verità, Stellantis management finally acknowledged during a meeting with local employees that it is unlikely that the much-discussed Termoli electric vehicle battery factory will be constructed. This facility had been proposed by Stellantis as a key element of the revitalization of the group’s presence in Italy and had been heavily subsidized by the Italian government.

Of course, the Italian government responded to this news, and to begin with, Minister for Industry and Economy Urso immediately suspended the 200 million euros in public subsidies that were to be paid for this plant. Stellantis simply is not of interest to Italy, despite the fact that the country has spent, it is estimated, 200 billion euros in aid over 50 years to support the Italian automakers that are now part of Stellantis.

At this point, it is time to ask for this money back. Or if Stellantis closes a factory, since this is a strategic asset that is destroyed, the state should step in, seize it, and turn it over to management to people who want to build cars. After all, a closed factory is worth zero to the company that closes it and is of negative value to the community. If it is worth nothing, it is not a loss to Stellantis. If then CIM will be one more competitor in the market, so much the better.