Stellantis sells fewer cars and has to idle plants

Stellantis said on Wednesday that its consolidated global shipments in the third quarter have dropped to 1.148 million units, a 20% decrease compared to the same period in 2023.

The Franco-Italian automaker said in a note that the fall in deliveries was higher than underlying sales, which are estimated to have dropped by 15%. This reflects the temporary impact of transitions in the product portfolio and dealer inventory reduction initiatives.

North America recorded the most significant drop, with shipments falling 36% in the third trimester to 299,000 units. In contrast, in the so-called Enlarged Europe region, the group’s top market, shipments fell by 17% to 496,000 units.

Shipments also decreased by 26% in the Middle East and Africa to 78,000 units and by 30% in China, India, and the Asia-Pacific region to 14,000. The only positive evolution was in South America, where deliveries grew by 14% to 259,000 units.

Production suspensions

In reaction, Stellantis announced to labor unions that it would suspend production for several days in November at its three Italian plants: Pomigliano D’Arco, Termoli, and Pratola Serra.

The carmaker said in a note that “these measures are necessary to adjust production to the current market conditions and to guarantee an efficient management of resources.”

In Pomigliano d’Arco, the production of the Fiat Panda will be stopped for nine days. In Termoli, there will be a halt in the production of the Fire engines from 11 to 24 November, while the GSE engines and the powerful V6 engines for Alfa Romeo and Maserati will skip four days of production.

The production of the fully electric Fiat 500 in Turin has been stopped since 13 September and will last until 1 November.

In the States, Stellantis is confronted with severe difficulties, and the manufacturer wants to reduce stock and, therefore, slow down production. Regarding the increasing disagreement between Stellantis and his UAW workers, the White House has reacted and wants to see Stellantis respect its commitments with the UAW and local communities.

Delayed launches

In Europe, Stellantis explains the shrinking of deliveries partly to “the delays in launching cars based on the Smart Car platform like the long-awaited Citroën ë-C3, where deliveries have been postponed until September while the car was already launched at the beginning of the year.

Stellantis says that it has great faith in its new products and that perspectives are solid. The manufacturer explains that it has received over 50,000 orders for the new Citroën C3 (all drives combined) and 80,000 for the new Peugeot 3008.