Italian government initiative considers offering up dormant brands to attract foreign investment
Hot on the heels of its intervention forcing Stellantis to rename the Alfa Milano as the Junior, the Italian government is getting involved in the car industry again.
As reported recently by financial paper Il Sole 24 Ore, the Meloni government is questioning the future of dormant brands currently owned by Stellantis – specifically Innocenti and Autobianchi.
The background to the move is a desire to attract inward investment, the suggestion being that the brands could be offered to Chinese makers in a bid to encourage them to establish manufacturing operations in the country. To that end, the government has beefed up the powers of the enterprise ministry and the ‘Made In Italy’ initiative – Ministero delle imprese e del made in Italy, commonly known as Mimit.
It’s been compared by Italian journalists to the transfer of the MG brand to SAIC and talks are said to have taken place in Beijing with major players including BYD, Great Wall, Chery and Dongfeng.
The brands themselves are technically the property of Stellantis, but the government has questioned the length of time for which they have been inactive. A new law has been proposed which would see historic trademarks enter state ownership after five years’ lack of use and the business ministry has already registered the two marques with the country’s patent and trademark office, albeit with different logos.
Naturally it’s far from being a done deal but it remains to be seen how far the government will go to attract Chinese manufacturing investment and what the future holds for these very Italian brands – Innocenti in particular being deeply intertwined with the history of British Leyland and the Mini.
