The Stellantis plant in Gliwice recently announced a reduction of 500 jobs due to a drastic decline in orders, leading to the closure of the third production shift. Another bad news for Stellantis’ European production, one of the world’s largest car manufacturers. Managing numerous prestigious brands like Alfa Romeo, Peugeot, Fiat, Jeep, and others across the ocean is becoming increasingly challenging.
Stellantis moves production from Poland to Brazil due to declining orders
In addition to the problems in Gliwice, the Powertrain facility in Bielsko-Biała has already ceased engine production in spring 2024. This site, operational since 2003, has produced over 7.3 million diesel and gasoline engines used in vehicles across various group brands. After many years, it’s time for this Polish Stellantis production to move far away and relocate the production line to South America.
The production line has been dismantled and transferred to Brazil, to the Stellantis plant in Betim, where engine production will continue. The Polish plant’s land has also been sold for 25 million euros to a real estate development company. DL Invest plans to transform it into an office complex.
Initially, Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa had shown interest in taking over the site for industrial purposes, thanks to its advanced infrastructure, but the investment was subsequently abandoned. The sale marks the end of a long industrial tradition in Bielsko-Biała, where the facility was equipped with ideal heavy industry infrastructure, including railway connections and specialized machinery.
The closure involved two phases of layoffs, affecting over 700 people. Some workers received offers to be relocated to other Stellantis group factories. These changes inevitably reflect the profound transformations taking place in the global automotive industry. Here, restructuring and relocation strategies are intertwined with technological evolution and the pursuit of greater production efficiency. The desperate cost-cutting is slowly devastating a sector in continuous difficulty.