Fiat, represented by John Elkann and Sergio Marchionne, met with the Italian prime minister, Mario Monti, at the weekend to discuss developments and prospects for the company.
Fiat reiterated its commitment to an industrial presence in Italy, underpinned by a strategy to increase exports beyond Europe.
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The Italian industry ministry will also set up a working group to help with the export push.
“Financial aid was not asked for, and had it been requested it would not have been given,” Monti said at a conference in Rome today.
The government instead will seek “to create the conditions and the context that allow it to safeguard the industrial presence of Fiat in Italy,” Monti added.
There is still some uncertainty surrounding Fiat’s Italian production capacity and whether or not a further assembly plant closure (in addition to Termini Imerese) may turn out to be necessary. Recent indications have suggested that the company may rely on short-time working to address stock-build issues that have arisen from plummeting demand for the company’s products in Europe.
La Repubblica reported today that Fiat will not update the market on its plans for Italian factories when it approves its Q3 results on October 30. For an update on Italian factory investments, “everything is on hold until 2014,” the paper said.
