The Fondazione Banco Napoli hosted a presentation at Palazzo Ricca of Francesco Zirpoli's book "Autodistruzione. Crisi e trasformazione dell'industria dell'automobile", an examination of the European and Campanian automotive crisis.
The discussion focused on the sector's loss of competitiveness, technological transition, industrial policy and the consequences for employment. According to Il Mattino's report on the event, the conversation connected European industrial trends with their regional effects, rather than treating the crisis as an abstract market downturn.
Why Pomigliano and the supply chain matter
The Campanian angle centered on the Pomigliano manufacturing hub, the regional automotive supply chain and the impact of Stellantis-related industrial decisions.
For readers in Naples and Campania, that framing matters: national debates about car production, component suppliers and investment choices reach the region through factories, supplier firms and jobs. The event placed those regional stakes alongside broader questions about demand, competition and technological change.
Beyond emissions rules
The central argument of Zirpoli's book, as described both by the Fondazione Banco di Napoli and in an independent account of the book, challenges explanations that place primary responsibility on European emissions rules.
Instead, the book points to deeper structural and strategic weaknesses: weaker demand, declining competitiveness, international competition and technological delay. In this reading, environmental regulation did not by itself create the crisis, even as manufacturers face higher costs and uncertainty around new powertrains.
This distinction is useful for following current policy debates. If regulation were the main cause, the remedy would be mainly deregulatory. If the causes are structural, the response involves investment, product strategy, skills and industrial policy.
What automotive firms are actually doing
Reporting by Lavoce.info on the state of Italian automotive firms describes production and investment declines, alongside pressure from international competitors, higher costs and uncertainty about future powertrains.
An OTEA survey cited in that reporting, covering 448 automotive-related firms, found that 61% had already begun or planned diversification. Only 8.3% intended to leave the automotive sector completely.
Those figures should be read carefully: they describe the surveyed firms, not the entire supply chain. But they suggest that most participating firms are seeking partial adjustment — adding new products or customers — rather than a full exit from car-related work.
For workers and small suppliers, that is an important nuance. Diversification can mean new capabilities and markets, but it does not guarantee stable employment or a smooth transition, especially where investment is falling.
Ecological transition as a possible lever
Both the Fondazione presentation and the independent account of Zirpoli's work identify ecological transition as a possible route to renewed competitiveness, innovation and employment.
The Fondazione Banco di Napoli describes weaker demand, declining competitiveness and technological delay as key features of the crisis, and presents the ecological transition as a possible strategic lever for long-term competitiveness rather than only a regulatory burden.
In other words, electrification and related technologies are treated as an industrial opportunity: a chance to rebuild product, process and supply-chain capabilities. Whether that opportunity materializes depends on investment decisions, policy continuity and firms' ability to manage the shift in skills and costs.
The Naples discussion did not resolve those open questions. Detailed records of the programme and debate were not available in the published sources. What the event offered, through Zirpoli's reconstruction, was a clearer map of the problem: a structural crisis with Campanian consequences, in which green technology may provide one of the available paths toward recovery.
