Poland overtakes Mirafiori: the Chinese cars of Stellantis and Leapmotor in Tychy
Leapmotor's Chinese electric cars will be made at the Stellantis factory in Tychy, Poland. Initially, rumors spread that the production would go to Mirafiori. And meanwhile in Turin all the related industries are on strike demanding guarantees on the future of the plant
Despite the undeniable similarity between the electric Fiat 500 and Leapmotor's T03 small car, the Chinese cars that Stellantis will help bring to Europe following the investments of the Group led by Carlos Tavares in the former Leapmotor startup founded by Fu Liquan and Jiangming Zhu will not be baked in Mirafiori, already home of the Turin city car, but in the Tychy factory, in Poland.
STELLANTIS' PLAN TO BRING CHINESE EV CARS TO EUROPE
There are no official confirmations, because the Group apparently decided to hide the start of the operations, but in this regard the Reuters news agency has taken up a report from the investment bank Jefferies which cites the statements made by the top management of the Chinese company during a conference call with stock market analysts.
Regarding the reported material, the joint venture between the two manufacturers already last week began producing the first examples of the T03 (known for its incredible, at times somewhat privateer, resemblance to the Fiat 500 ) in the Polish plant with the The aim is to reach full capacity in September.
According to the news agency, Stellantis – which, as you will remember, has acquired 51% of the capital of Leapmotor and is the owner of the exclusive rights for the production, export and marketing of the Asian brand's products – in addition to the production of the small Chinese electric car, will send the C-segment SUV, known as the A12, to Polish lines. The C10, however, at least initially, will continue to be produced in China and exported to Europe.
Despite what had been rumored immediately after the signing between the Italian-French Group and the Chinese, i.e. that Mirafiori could be in pole position to host the production of Asian electric cars, the other rumor that has been bouncing around for a couple of years has now definitively taken shape of months according to which Tychy would have ousted the Turin hub, which has also been in trouble for months and with workers in the streets since April to ask Tavares for reassurances on the future of the plant.
THE STRIKE FOR MIRAFIORI
On June 12th, all the related workers flocked to the Piedmontese capital again. The Turin newspaper La Stampa detailed: “The procession is attended by delegations of workers from industries throughout Northern Italy such as the Fabbrica Tubiflex collective, those of Hitachi Rail from Pistoia, Rsu Weber Magneti Marelli Bologna. The workers Lear and Delgrosso also march in procession, with their signs and worried faces, left without work or redundancy payments. At the head of the procession, halfway along the route, the Embraco banner appears. «How strange – someone says – But what does it have to do with it?». All united by the slogan: "If Stellantis doesn't increase production, the entire industry will go into crisis."
Antonio Giovanni Spera , Uglm general secretary, said: “The automotive sector is the first sector for metalworking production. When the automotive industry stops, Italy stops." This was echoed by the Uilm general secretary, Rocco Palombella : “Without answers, Turin will start a new mobilization. Tavares decided to call us together but without saying what the new models will be and without giving us concrete answers. If the Chinese arrive, make a clear choice: reopen Grugliasco and bring the production back here."
WHAT THE TYCHY PLANT DOES
The Polish plant south of Katowize, Silesia region, in addition to producing the new Panda since the early 2000s, then the Fiat 500 and in more recent years the Jeep Avengler, since last September 7th it has also been the cradle of the New Fiat 600e.
That it is crucial in Stellantis' industrial plans can be understood from the fact that the Franco-Italian group invested over 200 million euros in 2021 for the restyling of the plant to allow work on the multienergy platforms eCMP and CMP (of Psa origin) intended to a varied range of models.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/smartcity/la-polonia-sorpassa-mirafiori-le-auto-cinesi-di-stellantis-e-leapmotor-a-tychy/ on Mon, 17 Jun 2024 09:57:37 +0000.