Italy’s new government has requested a meeting with Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne and chairman John Elkann tomorrow (16 March) in Rome to discuss the automaker’s future production plans in Italy.
Prime Minister Mario Monti will formally meet Marchionne for the first time, while Labour Secretary Elsa Fornero will also be present, but Fiat is refuting any suggestion it will shutter any of its five Italian plants despite the domestic market plummeting by almost a fifth last month.
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“It is the first formal meeting Fiat has had with the new government – that is all it is,” a Fiat spokesman in Turin told just-auto. “The Italian [media] are all hysterical about this meeting – I don’t know why. We won’t be issuing any statement – it is a private meeting.
“Marchionne has said on the record [there] are no planned closures foreseen in Italy. People are obsessed with the five car plants in Italy, but we have 65 manufacturing sites including components and military. We have closed the plant in Sicily [Termini Imerese], but the others are not scheduled for any closure.”
Earlier this month the Labour Secretary said she had had reassurances from Fiat that any speculation about plant closures was “without foundation” and the automaker was committed to Italy.
“I have renewed the hope Fiat will continue to represent one of the main actors of our industrial system, ensuring at least the current levels of employment,” said Fornero.
