The European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Fiat Group have signed the EUR 400m finance contract approved by the EIB's Board of Directors last March. The loan is intended to support the motor group’s research and development projects and comes under the European Clean Transport Facility (ECTF), the EIB’s plan targeting European manufacturers for projects aimed at reducing carbon dioxide emissions and achieving greater energy efficiency.
"We are especially pleased to help Fiat, Italy’s largest manufacturing group and one of the world’s leading players in the motor industry, to carry out its programmes in the planning and production of new, less environmentally harmful technologies for the transport sector", remarked Dario Scannapieco, EIB Vice-President with responsibility for operations in Italy, Malta and the Western Balkans. "Research and development projects are, in fact, the basis for the sustainable growth of a business and are even more critical at times like now when companies must plan ahead with the aim of boosting their own competitiveness, a concept that FIAT has clearly grasped", he added.
“I am grateful to the EIB for this loan”, stated Fiat’s CEO Sergio Marchionne, “which will contribute hugely to continuing the quest for more environmentally friendly solutions and to the development of technologies designed to reduce consumption and emissions. This is a strategic choice that Fiat has embraced with conviction for a while now both in traditional engines and alternative fuel sources such as methane, an area in which we are recognised as leading the way”.