Oct. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Italy will wait until next month for the release of new auto sales numbers and Fiat SpA’s industrial plan before renewing car trade-in incentives for next year, Industry Minister Claudio Scajola said.

“We will act to extend the incentives, maybe defining in advance the way we exit from the incentive program so we don’t distort the market,” Scajola said in a Bloomberg Television interview in Rome. “In tandem with the presentation of the Fiat industrial plan, there will be the discussion for the definition of incentives for the industry.”

On Oct. 21, Fiat forecast that its business will improve for the rest of 2009 after unexpectedly reporting a third- quarter profit, partly on the government incentives that are due to expire at the end of 2009. Sergio Marchionne, chief executive officer of the Italian carmaker that bought a stake in Chrysler Group LLC, said the company’s would lose 370 million euros ($556 million) in operating profit next year without the incentives.

The current incentives allow consumers trading in cars older than 10 years to receive a discount of 1,500 euros. The cleanest models, powered by electricity or liquefied petroleum gas and methane, are eligible for larger incentives. Italian car sales rose for a fourth-month in September, even with the economy mired in its worst recession in 60 years.

During a presentation of Fiat’s third-quarter results, Marchionne also said there weren’t yet “clear indications” about the government incentives for 2010.

EU Partners

Scajola said the aid has buoyed the Italian car market this year, and the government wanted to wait until 11-month auto sales figures were available to decide on prolonging subsidies for trading in older cars for newer, more ecological models. The renewal is also being discussed with European Union partners, he said.

“We’re constrained by agreements with other countries,” he said.

The incentives, introduced in February, will be remodeled “on the basis of our experience” to be more effective, the minister said. He also ruled out job cuts at Fiat, because workers will be aided by a state-funded temporary factory- closure system, and he said there would be no plant shutdowns.

“Factories in Italy won’t be closed,” Scajola said. “Fiat made a commitment that it has respected so far, and I have no doubts that it will continue to respect.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Steve Scherer in Rome at scherer@bloomberg.net; Flavia Rotondi in Rome at frotondi@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: October 23, 2009 01:00 EDT