ROME (Reuters) -ITB Auto is set to take over an idled auto components factory in northern Italy to produce Chinese electric minicars with an investment of about 100 million euros ($117.3 million), the industry ministry said on Tuesday.
The ministry made the announcement after chairing crisis talks in Rome about the future of the Grugliasco plant near Turin, currently owned by U.S. auto parts company Lear Corporation.
Lear's Grugliasco plant is one of many suppliers hit hard by the collapse of automotive
production in Italy, which last year dropped to a nearly 70-year low.
The ITB plan foresees the production of 20,000 minicars per year and the re-employment of 200-250 of the plant's 376 workers, the ministry said.
"Today we are laying the groundwork for another (industrial) crisis to be put on the path to recovery," Industry Minister Adolfo Urso said.
"We will continue to monitor the protection of jobs and the site's actual industrial revitalization, in close dialogue with the company, local institutions, and trade unions," he added.
ITB hopes to close the deal by end-2025 and start production in the first quarter of 2026, the ministry said.
The Fim-Cisl, Fiom-Cgil and Uilm trade unions, which took part in the Rome crisis talks, cautiously welcomed the plans.
In a joint statement, they emphasised the need to help workers not included in the relaunch of the factory, and called on the ministry to check out the "financial and market strength" of the would-be investors.
The minicars due to be made in Grugliasco are currently imported from China and marketed by ITB Auto in Italy under the Desner brand, unions said.
Both the ministry and trade unions said a new round of talks would take place on October 9.
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(Reporting by Alvise Armellini and Giulio Piovaccari, editing by Sharon Singleton)
