News
Stellantis Closes Several Factories As Outputs Fell In 2024
Stellantis’s factory outputs fell in 2024, partly due to the need to clear inventory in the United States. However, the situation was tense enough for the group to cut production lines at several Italian factories.
The situation is critical in the United States for Stellantis, which faces the grumbling of dealers overwhelmed by hard-to-sell stocks. So, before thinking about bailing out its American distributors, Stellantis had to let them manage these costly stocks. This has inevitably weighed heavily on the “factory exits” at the automotive giant, which is announcing a 20% drop in production worldwide in the third quarter of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023: 1.14 million vehicles were produced and invoiced to distributors and importers, compared to 1.42 million last year. And unsurprisingly, the biggest drop is in the North American market, at -36%. The current context is leading Stellantis to be cautious. Especially with certain brands currently in trouble. This mainly affects Italy.
Several factories closed
While Stellantis remains very optimistic with its French brands and the launches of the 3008 and C3, this is a little less the case for Italy, which is suffering the full force of the slowdown in sales of certain models. The Electric 500, already affected several times in recent months, sees its production frequently stopped. But factory shutdowns are increasing. Stellantis “is facing a particularly complex moment in its transition due to the drop in orders on the electric vehicle market in Europe, which is causing difficulties for all manufacturers, particularly European ones.”
And the situation in Europe is not necessarily good for Stellantis, which has seen its market share plummet since 2019 and before the pandemic, falling from 22 to 16%. The rise of Tesla and the return to business of the Renault group have made Stellantis’ task very difficult
Four days of shutdown for the plant that produces the Panda and 500, 13 days for the one that makes the Fire thermal engine for Jeep and Fiat, and the plant assembling the electric 500 stopped for many days already, until November 1st: the period is tough for the Italian automobile industry. All the more so since Carlos Tavares made it clear that only Maserati was losing money today in the group, implying that the trident was the brand in danger. The CEO recognizes a very high price positioning, which may be causing Maserati to lose customers.
In the meantime, Stellantis has to deal with some serious news: the significant drop in the stock market value, the choice of a new CEO who will be able to reconcile Stellantis with Italy and, above all, ensure the launch of crucial models such as the 3008/5008 range, the new Panda and the Citroën C3 and C3 Aircross.
