Italy in talks with Chinese EV maker Chery on car plant

The Italian government is in talks with Chinese automaker Chery Auto as part of efforts to attract another major automaker to the country alongside Stellantis and increase the national car production to 1.3 million vehicles a year, Reuters reported. In 2023, the national car production fell below 800,000 and the concerns are already in discussion with Stellantis – the country’s sole major automaker. The group has been asked to increase its output to one million units annually by the end of this decade, a total it last hit in 2017.

Industry Minister Adolfo Urso has said Italy wants a second manufacturer to add around 300,000 vehicles to national output. If the talks with Chery succeed, the carmaker would be among the first Chinese automakers with a European manufacturing presence, intensifying competition with local legacy manufacturers, especially in the electric vehicle (EV) segment.

Urso also said that last month Italy held talks with Tesla and with three other undisclosed Chinese carmakers, whose representatives visited Italy last year to assess potential investment opportunities. One of the two sources said Chery was for now the option Rome was “betting on most”. The carmaker’s Europe Managing Director Jochen Tueting told Reuters the Chinese automaker expects sales in Europe to be high enough to support a local assembly plant. “We are exploring different possibilities across Europe to look for a potential setup of local manufacturing for the future,” he said.

He added that the company is having discussions in several locations across Europe right now but said non-disclosure agreements prevented him from commenting on specific locations. The sources, one from industry and one from the government, declined to be identified because the talks are confidential.

The industry source told Reuters that the Chinese EV maker was considering either refurbishing an existing plant or building a new one in Italy, but was also assessing other options in Europe, including a former Nissan plant in Barcelona.

A government source hinted that Great Wall Motor was also among the Chinese automakers which were in touch with Rome for building vehicles there and visited Italy to hold talks.