According to Bloomberg, Dongfeng Motor Group is in preliminary negotiations with the Italian government on the production of cars in the country to help boost its international business.
Qian Xie, head of Dongfeng Motor’s European operations, said on April 16 that Dongfeng is considering setting up a plant in Italy with an annual production capacity of 100000 vehicles.
The Italian government has been trying to attract another carmaker to localise production in the country after clashing with Stellantis over its plans to cut jobs and move jobs to lower-cost locations.
Italy is one of the largest car markets in Europe, and for a Chinese carmaker, producing cars locally means supplying to all other countries in the region.
” Qian Xie said in an interview in Milan.
Qian Xie also revealed that negotiations between Dongfeng Motor and the Italian government are under way and that the Italian government will provide Dongfeng with some production base options in the coming weeks.
Photo: Dongfeng, if the above report is true, it may further destabilize the relationship between the Italian government and the Stellantis.
Earlier this month, Tang Weishi, chief executive of Stellantis, warned that if Italy were to bring in a Chinese carmaker to set up a local plant, the company might have to make some “unpopular decisions”, including closing the factory.
In fact Dongfeng Motor is a partner of Stellantis in the Chinese market and is responsible for the production of Peugeot and Citroen brands.
In addition to Stellantis, Dongfeng also works with foreign carmakers such as Honda and Nissan.
However, as demand for gasoline vehicles in China has been declining, Dongfeng is under pressure at home.
Dongfeng Motor Group sold 2421227 vehicles in 2023, down about 17 per cent from a year earlier.
So the group began to focus on overseas expansion.
In Italy, we can take advantage of all the strong traditions of the country’s auto industry.
” Qian Xie said.
He added that while Dongfeng was very confident in the future of electric cars, for now, the company needed to focus on hybrid vehicles in Italy.
At present, Italy still lags behind other European countries in the popularity of electric vehicles.
Last year, Italian electric cars accounted for about 4 per cent of total car sales, well below the European average of nearly 15 per cent, according to consultancy AlixPartners.
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