ITALIAN Industry Minister Adolfo Urso said on Monday (Jul 10) Stellantis chief executive Carlos Tavares agreed with him on the need to boost automotive production in Italy, home to Stellantis brands including Fiat and Alfa Romeo.

In a statement released after the pair met in Rome earlier on Monday, Urso said his ministry and the automaker aimed to sign a deal on Italian car production by the end of the month.

“The parties have agreed on the need to immediately intervene to reverse the negative trend of the latest 20 years,” Urso said.

Stellantis, Italy’s major automaker, produced fewer than 700,000 vehicles in the country last year and in 2021, as it was hit by a global shortage of microchips and other components.

According to the FIM-CISL metalworkers union, the group’s output in Italy is expected to rise to around 800,000 units this year.

Fiat Chrysler, which merged with France’s PSA in early 2021 to create Stellantis, produced over one million vehicles in Italy for the last time in 2017.

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Urso said he set out to Tavares a plan developed by the government detailing production targets and how to reach them, the need to expand the number of models produced in Italy and to invest in R&D. REUTERS