A survey carried out by the Turin Chamber of Commerce, Anfia (National Association of Automobile Industry Industry) and the Center for Automotive and Mobility Innovation (Cami) of the Management Department of the Ca ‘Foscari University of Venice highlights the outcomes of the pandemic on the automotive components sector in Italy. “Following the pandemic crisis and the general economic slowdown, in 2020 turnover and employees of national components are decreasing”, summarizes the President of the Turin Chamber of Commerce, Dario Gallina: “Piedmont, which is worth 33.5 % of national companies and produces 35.8% of Italian turnover, has suffered more, losing positions in the national chessboard, but continues to show a greater propensity towards foreign countries than the rest of Italy. The supply chain expects a recovery in 2021, but it is essential that the vision of national industrial policy be placed at the center of political action; entrepreneurs alone cannot manage to transform the crisis into an opportunity, because around the corner there are far more radical and complex challenges: electrification, automation, technological transition require, in fact, both private and public investments in research and development and human resources with adequate skills. We are facing an epochal turning point that involves one of the most important sectors of Italian manufacturing and which, if not manned and governed, will lead, in particular to Turin and Piedmont, to a very difficult problem of contraction with worrying economic and social effects “.
Moreover, in 2020 the world demand for motor vehicles fell to 78 million units, 12.5 million less than in 2019 (-13.8%).
The pandemic, the consequent containment measures, the uncertainty due to the economic crisis have caused significant market downturns on all the main markets. In the first 9 months of 2021, however, the demand for cars records insufficient growth to return to pre-Covid levels and could amount to around 85 million cars (+ 8%). Italian automotive components represent a universe made up of 2,203 companies, which generated an estimated turnover of 44.8 billion euros and employed over 161,400 people. Compared to the previous year (when a negative change in turnover had already been recorded), the turnover fell further by 11.9%, accompanied by the decrease in the number of employees (-1.5% compared to + 0.6% in 2019). This is a worsening that affected all segments of the supply chain: the categories with the most modest reduction in turnover are Engineering & Design companies (-6.8%), aftermarket specialists (-7.0%) and subcontractors. processing (-9.6%), while the decline is more sustained for specialists, including those in motorsport (respectively -12.1% and -11.3%), systems engineers and modulists (-12.6%) and subcontractors (-13.6%).
For Marco Stella, President of the Anfia Components Group, “after a 2020 marked by the Covid crisis – responsible for a decline in exports of Italian components by 15.3%, for a value of 18.7 billion euros, 4.3 % of the total exported from Italy, in the presence of a trade balance that remained positive for 5.5 billion euros – 2021 brought with it the first gradual signs of recovery, but also further uncertainties, with the worsening of the material crisis prime and logistics, already felt at the end of 2020, and the risk of a further tightening on the mobility decarbonisation objectives proposed by the EU Commission with the proposal of the ‘Fit for 55’ regulatory package. The shortage of semiconductors, which caused delays in the supply chain and deliveries of new cars, production losses as well as worsening costs, is destined to normalize only in 2023, putting in the spotlight a dependence on Asian countries from which the European supply chain will have to try to break free. Faced with these challenges, it is essential that European and Italian institutions study a path to accompany the automotive supply chain to productive reconversion – with particular regard to components and its SMEs “.
According to Francesco Zirpoli, Scientific Director of the Cami of the Department of Management of the Ca ‘Foscari University, “The processes of industrial aggregation (Stellantis) and the awakening of industrial policy in Italy, also thanks to the tools provided by the PNRR, pose demanding challenges for Italian automotive supply chain but also unexpected opportunities. The future of the Italian supply chain will be played on the ability to create programs for the development and attraction of direct investments from abroad, to encourage the growth of suppliers who, through internationalization, can act as national champions capable of pulling the less advanced “pieces” of the supply chain. towards technological, managerial and market upgrade and finally to build innovation networks that are able to combine research of excellence and industrial development on new technologies ».
