New-car sales at home fell to a 20-year low in 2002 as rising unemployment and sliding wages push consumers toward smaller, cheaper cars.

Unity didn't survive 1985 when a law issued by Bettino Craxi cabinet cut the "sliding wage scale".

The sliding wage scale consists in increasing the wages as the prices rise in order to maintain the purchasing power of the workers even if there is inflation.

The sliding wage scale was introduced in France in July 1952 under the president Vincent Auriol (SFIO) in the administration Antoine Pinay (RI).