Stellantis And Ferrari Chair Caught Up In $84 Million Tax Evasion Case

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Good morning! It’s Monday, September 23, 2024, and this is The Morning Shift, your daily roundup of the top automotive headlines from around the world, in one place. Here are the important stories you need to know.

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Contents

1st Gear: John Elkann Targeted In Italian Tax Fraud Case

When it rains it pours for some automakers, it seems. After Stellantis struggled through poor sales, falling profits and calls to sell off its brands, a key figure at the Jeep and Fiat owner is now facing a tax evasion case.

Stellantis and Ferrari chair John Elkann has been named as part of an investigation into alleged tax fraud, reports the Detroit Free Press. Prosecutors in Italy have seized more than $84 million worth of assets from five people, including Elkann, over allegations that they avoided paying inheritance tax in the country. As the Free Press reports:

The investigation, opened earlier this year, alleges Elkann and his siblings Lapo and Ginevra did not pay taxes in Italy on assets they inherited after the death in 2019 of their grandmother Marella Caracciolo, the wife of late Fiat boss Gianni Agnelli.

The case stems from a wider inheritance dispute between the Elkanns and their mother Margherita over the estate of Gianni Agnelli, which has divided one of Italy’s best known business dynasties.

Prosecutors in the northern city of Turin said in a statement that their investigation showed that Caracciolo was a resident in Italy from at least 2010 and not Switzerland, and that her inheritance therefore should have been taxed in Italy.

They said claims she had been based in Switzerland were part of “a criminal plan to hide her substantial assets and related income from Italian inheritance and tax laws”.

In response to the seizure of money and assets worth almost 75 million euros ($84 million), lawyers representing Elkann said this was just a “procedural step in the case” and did not “signal any liability by the defendants.”

The Elkann family instead argue that their grandmother, Marella Caracciolo was a Swiss resident for years before the brothers were born, meaning that they wouldn’t be required to pay inheritance tax in Italy. As such, the lawyers believe they “can prove that our defendants have nothing to do with the facts charged”.

2nd Gear: Republicans Are Trying To Kill Biden’s Emission Rules

While we’re all distracted by the battle going on between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump over the keys to the White House, it’s easy forget that there’s still a government. That government is now facing a battle to keep its strict emissions rules alive after the Republicans filed a resolution that could hit some regulations.

Republicans have just approved a resolution that could overturn a new Biden administration rule on automobile emissions, reports the Associated Press. Republicans have falsely claimed that the rules are forcing “Americans to buy unaffordable electric vehicles they don’t want,” as the AP reports:

The rule issued by the Environmental Protection Agency in March would impose the most ambitious standards ever in the United States to cut planet-warming emissions from passenger vehicles.

The actions come as EV sales, needed to meet the standards, have begun to slow.

While former President Donald Trump and other Republicans have lambasted the rule as an EV “mandate,’’ the rule would not force all sales of EVs. Under the regulation, industry could meet the limits if 56% of new vehicle sales are electric by 2032, the EPA said. The standard also would require at least 13% plug-in hybrids or other partially electric cars by 2032, as well as more efficient gasoline-powered cars that get more miles to the gallon than cars currently on the road.

The projected EV sales rate would be a huge increase over current sales, which rose to 7.6% of new vehicles last year, up from 5.8% in 2022.

The attack on the bill by Republicans has been called an effort to “roll back commonsense air pollution protections” by Democrats in government. The move has also been called a tactic for “wasting time” as the move will almost certainly be vetoed when it reaches Biden’s desk.

Instead, lawmakers claim the House needs to focus on more pressing issues, like passing funding for the government, which is set to end at the end of September.

3rd Gear: Elon Musk Won’t Go To Mars If Harris Wins

While Republicans are threatening greener measures implemented in the U.S., Democrats are reportedly risking our future off this planet without even knowing it. That’s because SpaceX boss Elon Musk has claimed that should Harris win the election in 42 days, his company will never put a man on Mars.

Musk warned that the Democratic nominee will endanger our future among the stars this weekend, reports Sky News. The SpaceX boss made the claims, as you’d expect, on Twitter X while discussing his plans to colonize the Red Planet. As Sky News reports:

On Sunday night, Musk told his X followers that in just two years, he will send five spaceships to Mars.

“Eventually,” he added, “there will be thousands of Starships going to Mars and it will [be] a glorious sight to see!”

However, the vocal Donald Trump supporter said another Democratic presidency “would destroy the Mars program and doom humanity” by drowning it in red tape.

This appears to be a message that Trump has latched onto, as he reportedly told a rally this weekend that he’s going to get Musk on the case of taking us to Mars if he wins the election.

During a rally on Saturday, the convicted felon vowed to put a man on Mars during his presidency if he wins in November. To do this, he said he was going to “talk to Elon,” who he has also promised Elon a job at the White House should he win the vote.

4th Gear: GM Lays Off 1,700 Workers As Malibu Production Ends

General Motors is going through something of a reinvention right now, with old models dying off as it makes way for newer, shinier vehicles to roll out. As part of this, the company is preparing to kill off the Chevrolet Malibu sedan, which will eliminate 1700 production jobs at GM.

Production of the Mailbu will soon end at the GM Fairfax Assembly Plant, reports Automotive News. As a result of the shutdown, 1,700 workers at GM will be laid off while the company retools the plant and prepares to kick off production of new electrified models. As Automotive News reports:

The automaker said in a filing to the state of Kansas under the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act that the first of two rounds of layoffs will begin Nov. 18. That first group will include the temporary layoff of 686 full-time workers and the termination of 250 temporary employees, GM said.

Starting Jan. 12, 759 full-time workers will be temporarily laid off, according to the filing.

The Fairfax plant will continue to run its first shift into January, GM said in the filing. Production of the Cadillac XT4 compact crossover will then be paused so the plant can be retooled to build the next-generation Chevrolet Bolt EV alongside the gasoline-powered XT4.

GM has committed to invest almost $400 million into the Fairfax plant going forward, the investment was negotiated as part of the latest United Auto Workers union contract that was agreed by the automaker following strike action in 2023.

Once the investment in the facility is complete, GM predicts that the Fairfax plant will be back online “later in 2025” when it will begin producing cars like the next-generation Chevrolet Bolt EV.