Fiat SpA Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne said the Italian automaker will not reverse a controversial decision to close a plant in Sicily, arguing the European auto industry needs to slash capacity without government interference.
Marchionne, who was the keynote speaker at an industry event in Detroit on Wednesday, was interrupted twice by protesters as he delivered a somber overview of the problems still facing established automakers even after a financial crisis that sent Chrysler and GM into bankruptcy last year.
One man repeatedly shouted "Shame!" in Italian before being escorted from the room by security. Other protesters released a banner tied to helium balloons in the downtown ballroom.
Marchionne, who also heads Detroit-based Chrysler, said Fiat had nothing further to say to workers who have taken a series of industrial actions to protect jobs at a Sicilian production site known as Termini Imerese.
The plant is scheduled to close after 2011.
"We have decided to shut down a plant in Sicily," Marchionne said. "That decision is irreversible."
He said the Sicilian plant could not be made competitive and Fiat was losing money "on every car we make there."
Marchionne said European governments, including Germany, were wrong to intervene in the auto industry in an attempt to preserve jobs.
"We are the largest industrial organization in Italy but we do not have the responsibility to govern the country," Marchionne said of Fiat.
"The argument stops there," he said at the Automotive News World Congress.
Marchionne said the capacity utilization rate of the European auto industry could fall to 65 percent in 2010 from 75 percent last year, with sales widely expected to decline.
"The reason, simply put, is that European manufacturers simply do not close plants. In fact, they're often paid not to," he said, referring to government subsidies he said had "distorted" the European car market.
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