This update of the Manifesto comes three years after the start of the regional journey to defend the survival and competitiveness of the Automotive supply chain and in the aftermath of Lombardy’s assignment of the Chairmanship of the Automotive Regions Alliance, itself the result of the efforts made and the results achieved by the Department, with the support of stakeholders, in support of technology neutrality for the energy transition, even after 2035.

The Manifesto has evolved and scientifically enriched over the years with the updating of the “Notebook Renewable fuels and the vision of Lombardy’s automotive industry” Gradually gaining more sharing and authority both at the interregional level, as part of the Northwest Economic Cabin, and at the European level, most recently through a consolidation of its contents in the Monza Declaration-signed unanimously at the close of the third annual ARA conference on Nov. 29, 2024-which contains significant progress toward a broader definition of renewable fuels and is an important area for interregional collaboration in accessing the vast funds available at the European level.

At various levels, in Italy and in Europe, there has been an improved understanding of the scope and complexity of the transition underway and the sharing of the proposals formulated in the Manifesto of March 29, 2022 and its first Repositioning of July 20, 2023 to strengthen the recognized leadership of Lombardy’s technological and production chain for passenger and freight transport and, in general, of automotive components in the perspective of a plurality of tractions, as the basis for being competitive everywhere in the world scenario.

But the crisis in the continental automotive supply chain, which was widely predicted but underestimated, is producing its first effects by substantiating, for now, the structural decline of the European market with the prospect of the closure of a dozen assembly plants and several dozen plants in the component supply chain: in Italy, the number of cars produced in 2024 was 20 percent lower, with peaks of 30 percent for component manufacturers, than in 2019, and the outlook for 2025 remains negative. Also to be evaluated is the effect of the loss of European market share to Asian and North American competitors.

Hence the need to continue activities, ensuring continuity and vigor to the institutional lobbying action promoted by Lombardy to safeguard a fundamental sector in the Continent’s economy, which at the Lombard level alone is worth more than 30,000 companies and 100,000 workers, with a total turnover of more than 40 billion euros.

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