The Automotive supply chain is the sector on which the European challenge in the structural change of the production system and the industrial future of the Mezzogiorno will be played out. The Italian Automotive industry is located, in fact, predominantly in the South. According to SVIMEZ, in the first 9 months of 2024, plants in the Mezzogiorno supplied almost 90% of the vehicles produced in Italy, but lost more than 100 thousand units in 2023 (-25%). The Melfi plant alone saw a loss of nearly 90 thousand units (-62%), but the other plants - which were growing in the first part of the year - also entered negative territory, with declines affecting both motor vehicles (Pomigliano, -6%) and commercial vehicles (Atessa, -10%). Exacerbating the picture was the suspension of the more than 2 billion euro investment to build the battery gigafactory in Termoli, indicating a generalized European vulnerability in the transition to electric. The extended supply chain in Southern Italy's Automotive sector is worth nearly 13 billion euros in terms of value added, more than four-fifths of which is in Campania (29%), Apulia (20%), Sicily (22%) and Abruzzo (13%). Employment attributable to the Automotive supply chain is about 300,000, more than half in Campania (30%) and Apulia (21%), followed by Sicily (21%) and Abruzzo (11%). The revival of the Automotive industry in Europe and the defense of employment and allied industries requires a paradigm shift that passes through a European industrial plan, aimed at strengthening the electrical supply chain and reducing the accumulated technological gap with competitors, putting the plants in the South of Italy at the center.