The echo of the announcement by the Forza Italia governor of the Marche region had not yet died down a few days ago, Francis Acquaroli, on the date of the regional elections – in autumn – that from Rome arrived what seemed to everyone to be support for Acquaroli's electoral campaign, that is to say the declaration – by Minister Urso – on the affair Beko on the occasion of his recent official visit to Turkey: "The Marche factory in Comunanza will not close". With an addition, according to which there would be the certainty of a "challenging and ambitious industrial plan with significant investments in the modernization of the plants and in research and development capable of guaranteeing the development of the factories of what was Whirlpool Merloni in Italy".
Beko: “No comment”
But is it really like that? Beko has given a “no comment”. Come on sindacati an explicit comment arrives: “This is an electoral spot for governor Acquaroli”. And in fact, some RSU representatives asked, did Urso ask for guarantees also for the Lombard site of Cassinetta or for the Tuscan one of Siena or not?
The background of Urso's journey
Let's start with the minister's recent trip to Turkey, who - according to his statements - would have obtained the assurance of a positive review for Italian factories and not only for Comunanza. Beko sources have made it known that Urso and his colleague, the Turkish Minister of Industry, would have put pressure on the top of the Koç Group for Beko Europe to declare not to close Comunanza. And to review the entire restructuring plan. Which is not at all certain, on the contrary. On the one hand, on the other Erdogan Thanks to this pressure, he managed to put one of his most powerful secular opponents, the Koç Group, in difficulty, and on the other hand, Urso managed to credit the right wing – which governs the Marche region – with the credit for having forced Beko to change its industrial plan.
How to avoid the golden power
“The Comunanza site was the one most at risk,” it was said. And Siena? It will close by 2025 or 2027, with a novelty that risks sinking the hypotheses of relaunching the made in Italy of Bianco. Beko, in close the Polish and Italian factories, has always stated that the production would not be relocated to Türkiye. It may not be true. For example, as soon as the Siena freezer plant closes, the line already ready to manufacture the same freezers will start up immediately after Manisa, in Türkiye. This will avoid any overlapping of production activities between the two hubs, thus avoiding the risk of the application of the golden power.
Freezers from Siena to Manisa and then washing machines?
According to Urso "it will be possible to relaunch the role of production platform in the high-end sector also in the field of appliances”. It is not possible. Everything that is or was now manufactured by Whirlpool in Italy is moving to Turkey, with the exception of cooking and a niche of refrigeration, even the high range which then sells less and less. Not only that, but an even more serious delocalization is taking place in some ways, which concerns the use of our historic brands, certainly not just Beko. In other words, we will buy appliances with historic and glorious Italian and European brands that serve to "pull" sales, but built in Asia, Turkey and, in part, in Eastern Europe. And soon a large part of the washing machinesAre consumers aware of this?
Home Appliances, Via Factories and Historic Brands
This is happening with another world big, the Haier but what is surprising is that it happens without the protests and media hype that the events bring. Whirlpool, Beko and also Electrolux have provoked. In fact, Haier, since its arrival in Europe, in Varese, way back in 2000, has implemented a long-term strategy of soft delocalization, gradually. After having bought a Veneto table-top refrigerator factory from Meneghetti in 2001, within a few years, it closed it in total silence. And after having bought the Candy , Hoover in 2018 plans a soft production delocalization path and historic brands. Which was completed in 2025 but which, as we wrote on the occasion of the sale, had begun almost immediately. “The Italian white goods industry begins and ends with Candy” was the title of the article commenting, in 2018, on the sale of Candy and Hoover.
So, whoever buys a Candy or Hoover appliance should know that they are buying an entry level product made in China and that it has nothing, absolutely nothing, of Italian. The current and future delocalizations are caused by unequal competition between Chinese and Turkish giants and increasingly struggling European companies. And we reveal that, in the face of a slight growth in sales of majaps and small appliances in 2024 in Europe and Italy, only Chinese and Korean producers have benefited.
The production and export of Made in Italy household appliances have in fact lost further share and volume. In such a difficult context, new the results of the last quarter of 2024 and the whole of 2024 of the consumer electronics giants, IT, comfort and household appliances. Almost all negative or in any case on stand by while the global sales ranges see the arrival of new competitors on which we will return to understand what the future of made in Italy and made in Europe will be.
