Stellantis Slams the Brakes: Three European Plants Fall Silent
When headwinds sweep across the global car market, not even the industry’s giants emerge unscathed. Stellantis, home to marques such as Opel, Citroën, Fiat and Alfa Romeo, is being forced into an unwelcome pause, cutting output as buyers shy away from showrooms and leave fresh models idling on forecourts.
The first casualties are already visible. In Poissy, France, the gates are closing at a plant where the DS3 and Opel Mokka once rolled steadily off the line. Two thousand employees there will be placed on mandatory leave from October 13 to 31. In Italy, the Pomigliano facility will halt production of the Fiat Panda between September 29 and October 6, while the Alfa Romeo Tonale will remain suspended until October 10. The message to workers is harsh: no wages will be paid during the downtime.
An even longer freeze is looming for one of Italy’s automotive crown jewels, the Mirafiori plant in Turin. Production of the electric Fiat 500, once heralded as the emblem of Fiat’s green future, will not resume until January 20, 2026. For now, the model sits in storage, looking less like a flagship and more like an abandoned experiment.
The numbers tell the story with merciless clarity. In the first half of 2024, Stellantis sold 1.387 million vehicles in Europe. For the same period this year, that figure dropped to 1.289 million. In North America, sales fell from 838,000 to 647,000, while in Asia the decline was smaller but still pronounced, from 32,000 to 28,000 units.
Financial results underline the severity of the downturn. What was a €5.6 billion profit a year ago has turned into a €2.3 billion loss. Revenue, too, slid by 13 percent, settling at €74.3 billion.
Layered on top of the financial storm is a leadership shift. At the end of last year, longtime chief Carlos Tavares departed unexpectedly, handing the wheel to Antonio Filosa, a former Jeep executive. It now falls to him to steer the world’s fourth-largest automaker through a crisis of daunting proportions.
Stellantis has reached a crossroads where every decision carries existential weight. Whether these stoppages prove to be nothing more than a temporary pause or the first chords in a longer requiem for the group’s momentum will become clear soon enough.
