FCA at the forefront of the fight against the Coronavirus

The Agnelli family and all the companies linked to FCA (Fiat Chrysler Automobiles) have always been active in Italian community life. Even during this emergency that is affecting the whole region, the great Turin-based company has not shied away.

On the morning of 24 March, a moving video entitled ‘Hymn to the Streets’ was posted on the group’s official channels, showing Italy’s most famous squares and streets completely cleared as a result of new safety regulations. This view may seem discouraging or sad, but, as the voice-over explains, it is actually a symbol of ‘our hopes, our dreams, courage, strength, pride’. To close the video, a final incitement appears: #noicisiamo, a hashtag that underlines the automotive group’s concrete commitment to the various initiatives against the disease.

In fact, FCA, after decreeing the suspension of production in some of its plants and the modification of the working situations of many of its employees to guarantee their work in total safety, has launched a series of projects alongside all the other companies in the group and beyond.

EXOR and its subsidiaries Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Ferrari and CNH Industrial – which have also been joined by Ermenegildo Zegna and the Pesenti Foundation – have identified and are in the process of purchasing a total of 150 respirators as well as medical supplies from various foreign suppliers, preparing for their immediate airfreight to Italy. In addition, they maintain close contact with the Civil Protection Department, to provide the country with free scouting services to identify medical equipment and material for medical use on international markets, and above all related customs services for rapid importation into Italy.

Long-term rental company Leasys (FCA Bank) has provided the Italian Red Cross and other voluntary associations with a fleet of 300 vehicles to distribute food and medicine in Italian cities to the sick, elderly and people in need of assistance.

The Agnelli family itself has made a contribution of 10 million euro to the Civil Protection Department, to deal with the emergency at national level; and to La Stampa – Specchio dei Tempi, a foundation committed to meeting the social and health needs of Turin and Piedmont.

Leveraging its engineering and manufacturing expertise, FCA has decided to produce facial masks by converting one of its plants in Asia. Production will start in the coming weeks and the minimum target is one million facial masks per month, to be distributed worldwide. Furthermore, the group has started a collaboration with the car manufacturer Ferrari and the company Marelli to help “Siare engineering”, one of the few companies to produce the respirators that are essential in hospital intensive care, with the aim of doubling their productivity.

We at Mediability are monitoring all these initiatives for the FCA group, in the hope that a cure will soon be found and that we can return to normality as soon as possible.