Stellantis also scares Maserati. The unions: “All Italian factories at risk”

The unions' alarm: ""If you don't see investments even in a very high-end product..."

ROME – Stellantis is also pursuing its cost reduction policy in Modena, “returning to the city an empty, recently renovated space: the former Officina Orlandi in via Emilia Ovest”, which Sergio Marchionne had wanted “to expand the design and research offer on the Italian territory and in particular in the land of engines”. This was highlighted by the unions (Fim-Cisl, Uilm, Aqcf-R, Fiom-Cgil) after a meeting yesterday with the workers of Innovation Lab Maserati Modena, a research unit that is experiencing a new destiny within the current Stellantis phase . Rewinding the tape of the recent past, the acronyms recall that “while the factory in via Ciro Menotti was struggling between one social safety net and another, waiting for a car that would arrive only in 2021 with the Mc20, the Innovation Lab Modena grew dramatically, reaching over 1,300 employees, mainly engineers and technicians.

THE CHOICES OF THE COMPANY

Now, the company’s choice, instead, to cut space costs, as well as personnel costs,” through downsizing the number of workers and moving almost all activities in the historic factory” in via Menotti. The fact is, the unions shake their heads, that the fate of the plant in via Emilia Ovest is sealed: “A large part of the building was dedicated to offices and with 50% smart working the company says it is certain of being able to use all the areas of the Maserati tower (Crocetta flyover side)”, launched at the end of the 90s by the then president Luca Cordero di Montezemolo.

THE ENTIRE PRESENCE OF STELLANTIS IN ITALY AT RISK OF DECLINE

The result is that “activities such as the static-dynamic simulators (transferred to Balocco), the solar refraction study benches on crystals (destined to Pomigliano), some benches defined as HMI (human machine interface) in which activities were carried out are lost of research and in which the autonomous driving project was located”. In this way, the entire presence of Stellantis in Italy is considered at risk of decline: “If even on a very high-end product we do not see adequate investments and new car launches (necessary to stay in this market),the bad turn that the discussion between Stellantis and the government institutions is taking – conclude the Emilian trade unions – can only generate great concern about the future not only of Maserati Auto, but of all Italian factories”.