MILAN, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Stellantis is set to end 2025 having made purchases worth over seven billion euros ($8.1 billion) from Italian suppliers, CEO Antonio Filosa said on Wednesday, suggesting output in the country could start growing again next year.
In a plan to revive production in Italy presented a year ago, the Fiat-maker pledged to directly invest two billion euros in the country and make purchases worth six billion euros from local suppliers.
"We are closing our accounts and this year we
can celebrate having made two billion in investments and seven, not six, billion in purchases from Italian suppliers among systems, components, parts and services," Filosa said during the annual general meeting of Anfia, Italy's lobby group for auto parts makers.
The group's production in Italy is expected to decline further in 2025, after it fell below half a million vehicles last year. Passenger car output of 283,000 units in 2024 was the lowest in almost 70 years.
"It has been a difficult year... but this was a first step which will allow us to make further and more important ones in terms of local development and volumes for our suppliers," Filosa said.
The CEO said growth and competitiveness would also depend on the outcome of a review the European Union is conducting on its carbon-emission rules, with a key Brussels decision due on Dec. 16.
"These decisions will impact (the auto industry) over the next 10, 15, 20 years," said Filosa, who took up the role in June.
EU governments, including Germany and Italy, and several automakers have been lobbying for softer regulation, which currently sets a goal to cut carbon emissions from new cars to zero by 2035, effectively banning sales of new combustion-engine vehicles.
Filosa this month backed a call by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz to Brussels to allow exemptions for plug-in hybrids and highly efficient combustion engines beyond 2035, as automakers need more flexibility to battle slow electric-vehicle uptake and fierce competition from China.
Stellantis Chairman John Elkann last month warned that the European car industry risked "irreversible decline" without softer rules.
Industry proposals also include new goals for light commercial vehicle emissions, changes to regulation aimed at supporting production of small cars and measures to accelerate fleet renewal. ($1 = 0.8595 euros)
(Reporting by Giulio Piovaccari, editing by Gavin Jones and Keith Weir)
