The International Biennial Exhibition of Automotive Equipment and Aftermarket Products, better known as Autopromotec, opened its doors May 20, 2015, with the traditional inaugural congress on the theme, “The economy is picking up. Cars can restart."
The opening session included a debate on the car sector featuring two of the main actors, Eugenio Razelli, CEO of Magneti Marelli, and Dino Maggioni, senior vice president of industrial business unit for Pirelli Tires.
Both speakers provided evidence as to the ongoing recovery of the automotive sector also on the European markets after years of severe crisis. Two trends can already be observed: a tendency to favor high-end products, as confirmed by Maggioni, and the fundamental contribution of vehicle technology and on-board electronics, two areas that might create new businesses at all stages of the production chain, as stated by Razelli.
The congress opened with comments by Duccio Campagnoli, president of Bologna Fiere, Renzo Servadei CEO of Autopromotec, and Giovanni Sacchi the ICE-Italian Trade Promotion Agency Coordinating Director for Italy, the session addressed the global economic scenario in depth, with a lecture by Professor Giacomo Vaciago, a teacher of monetary economics at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore of Milan. Vaciago analyzed the origins of the economic crisis and the factors that offer hope for recovery.
“There is still no shared diagnosis for the crisis," says Vaciago, "first financial and then economic, which started on August 9, 2007, and there is also no shared definition of the causes, which makes it so difficult to interpret and treat."
Italy experienced particular hardship because it was characterized by strictly rationed bank credit, which had repercussions on internal demand, disrupting various sectors including the car market. Vaciago defined it as, "The worst thing that ever happened to any of us," because in Italy it was aggravated by the coexistence of political problems that had been left unresolved or simply ignored.
However, Vaciago says 2015 started with three positive developments: a drop in the oil price, a decline in the value of the euro, and the economic "stimulus" package promoted by the European Central Bank. On the down-side there is a negative "heritage" linked to unresolved geopolitical problems, like the Eurozone crisis following the collapse of Greece.
“We have to face the real problems of reconstructing Italy and Europe, in order to be sure that the recovery leads to growth. The hope is that this year is the right one in Europe to negotiate a new program for a common course to be resumed after the interruption of the crisis years”.
There is a serious paradox in the analysis of the development of the Italian economy. There are still many who doubt the recovery, while if we look closely at the two economic factors most indicative of the economic cycle, the sale of homes and cars, we see that the recovery had already timidly started a year ago. Every new figure that emerges about 2014 confirms that for real estate and cars the worst is over. So what is missing in order to stimulate a little more optimism? There is the ominous and unresolved problem of bad debts that continues to hinder the action of the monetary policy in support of the economy. Unless the associated problems are addressed there will never be much optimism.
The event also included remarks from Giuseppe Barile, vice president of the Componenti ANFIA Group. He provided a detailed overview of vehicle production trends both at a national and international level. He further presented an analysis of the data pertaining to the Italian component production sector, an area that has withstood the test of the economic crisis thanks to an ever-growing presence on the international markets.
To follow the 2015 edition of Autopromotec live, please visit the website www.autopromotec.com and follow #Autopromotec2015 on social media channels.
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