Stellantis is facing several problems in different markets, especially in the United States and Italy, where the drop in sales is more pronounced. As a result, production is also collapsing. And if production collapses, employees are not needed. If employees are not needed, layoffs occur. The automotive group has announced layoffs at several plants in the United States, including Sterling Heights, Warren, and Detroit. In Italy, the situation is not very different. Stellantis recently announced a production halt for the Fiat 500e until November 1st, due to low market demand.
Stellantis, sales and production collapse in Italy: the situation is unsustainable according to unions
The Fiat 500e has disappointed expectations, with sales in the United States in 2024 being less than 500 units. In Europe, it has registered a 42% drop compared to 2023. This difference is too large to guarantee continuous production. The unions, obviously, express their anger at this situation. Production at Stellantis plants in Italy is set to fall below 500,000 units in 2024, while in 2023, 751,000 vehicles were produced. This decline is especially due to low demand for electric vehicles.
The goal for 2030 is to reach a production of 1 million vehicles per year in Italy, but at the moment, this seems too complicated for Stellantis. To protest against this production decline, unions have called for a strike on October 18th. According to the FIM-CISL union, Stellantis has produced only 237,700 vehicles in the first nine months of 2024. This represents a 41% decrease compared to 2023, an even worse figure than in 2020, when plants were closed for several months due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
All six Stellantis plants in Italy have recorded a production decline in 2024. In particular, the Mirafiori plant in Turin has registered a 68% drop in 2024. Ferdinando Uliano, head of FIM-CISL, commented: “If the trend recorded in the third quarter were to be confirmed in the last quarter of 2024, production would be even worse than forecasted.” According to estimates, 300,000 cars and 200,000 vans should be produced.
Uliano also indicates that the problem is the lack of incentives from the government. Meanwhile, Carlos Tavares, CEO of Stellantis, is under increasing pressure due to the poor results recorded in 2024. Tavares, who recently stated that he might retire from 2026 at the end of his contract, will speak before an Italian parliamentary committee at the end of next week to assess the situation in the country.