The land of motors

The fame of the automotive sector is without a doubt linked to the major brands of world acclaim, exported from Emilia-Romagna everywhere: from Ferrari to Maserati, Ducati to Malaguti via Magneti Marelli. But the success of this sector is also based on a myriad of small and medium high technology companies, supported by a universe of specialist suppliers in the design of mechanical and electronic components. Synonymous with quality and reliability, these companies range from high performance motor cars to agricultural machinery, from the motorbike to buses and earth moving machinery. Overall there are more than 7,300 companies employing around 85 thousand (source: Istat-Asia, 2006).

The “Motor Valley” is mainly based in the provinces of Modena, Bologna and Reggio Emilia. If, however, we take into account the suppliers of components and services, we can see that they are evenly spread all over the region The cluster produces one third of exports from the region, to a total value of 15.6 billion Euros (source Coeweb, 2008), and is hence very oriented towards the international markets. There are 9 international trade fairs connected to the automotive. Among these: Motor Show (International Automobile Salon) and EIMA (International Showcase of Agricultural Machinery).

In Emilia-Romagna there are numerous high level training courses and structures for second level instruction related to automotive. Laboratories of the High-Technology Network support innovation in the supply chain.

For more detailed information, download the informative sheets: “Invest in Automotive in Emilia-Romagna”