An uphill start in 2011 for "Landi Renzo spa", a world leader in the sector of components and alternative fuel systems, LPG and methane, for motor vehicles, with a market share of 33%. Turnover and profitability in the first quarter appear to be down sharply (turnover of 47,2 million, against 93,9 million as at 31 March 2010 and a negative EBITDA of 1,1 million against a positive result of 18,4 million last year year). Weighing on the accounts is the end of tax incentives in Italy and a slowdown in the European market. The group from Cavriago, next to Reggio Emilia, however, plans to make up ground in the coming months. “March went better – says the president Stefano Landi – and after a slow start, we are convinced that there will be an acceleration that will lead us to close the year in line with 2010”.
To deal with the setback in the domestic market, Landi Renzo spa is experimenting with promotional forms in its local area, offering 20% discounts near supermarkets to those who want to switch from petrol to methane or LPG at partner workshops. But the strength of the group is internationalization, so the satisfactions that are lacking at home are sought elsewhere. Landi Renzo is present in more than 50 countries and in the quarter achieved an export share of around 84% of turnover. “For us, geography changes a bit – observes Landi -. It is about investing more in growing areas”. The Asian markets appear particularly lively, such as India, Pakistan, Iran. South America is also doing well, Argentina in particular, and the United States, “which is a small market, but with great potential, because it is very attentive to the environment. President Obama has spoken out in favor of methane and a bill in this sense should be approved in recent weeks”.
The other lever on which Landi Renzo spa continues to draw strength is that of research and development, financed with 4-5% of turnover. “You have to believe in young people – says Landi – for this reason in 2011 we will open our new research center in Reggio Emilia equipped with the most sophisticated equipment”. And is the hybrid, decreed by someone the car of tomorrow, a scary "spectre"? “I don't think that in the future there will be room for just one type of car as an alternative to the petrol one - replies Landi - and in any case we are working with the Turin Polytechnic on a kit to transform normal cars into electric hybrids, acting on non-electric two wheels driving forces". Great attention is also paid to the core business: methane, LPG, "dual fuel" technology, for introducing methane into diesel engines. Possible acquisitions are also evaluated in this context: "there are always open dossiers, on companies in our sector or component manufacturers to broaden the offer, but nothing hot". For now we have to face a cold spring and metabolize the purchases of 2010: AEB, the world's leading operator in components for LPG and methane fuel systems for motor vehicles, and the American Bayetch Corporation, the only company to have Carb certifications for vehicles with General Motors natural gas.
At the head of the US Landi Renzo today is Andrea Landi, Stefano's son and thus the second generational handover has begun. “We had less money – observes Stefano Landi – but the world was easier. I was very young when my father died and my mother, Giovanna Domenichin, took over the reins of the company and taught me everything. Maybe we were tightening our belts, but it was a less complex reality than the one we live in today".
The history of Landi Renzo, like that of many fine companies in that "large piece of Emilia", is studded with successes but also with great sacrifices: "It was the 50s - recalls the president - and my parents had just gotten married . The little money they had was used to buy the bedroom, but the opportunity arose to open a workshop and my mother had no doubts and she chose the workshop ”. Landi Renzo spa and the idea of transforming petrol cars into methane or LPG cars comes from even further away: it was the 30s when Italy was autarkic, petrol was scarce and the Emilian mechanics did their best to assemble cars and on the trucks a sort of "coal stove" (the gas generator). An uncle of Stefano Landi also followed that path, taken up again after the war by Renzo Landi with a passion and attention to technology that have remained as an imprint in the company, allowing it to seize subsequent opportunities, becoming number one in the world for reliability and innovation , creating, from that offshoot, a company which in 2010 brought revenues to 300 million, and which has been listed on the stock exchange in the Star segment since 2007.
