Officials at Stellantis, the world’s sixth-largest automaker, say they will have to make increasing sacrifices in the coming months.
The impact of the semiconductor shortage on the Stellantis group’s car production in Italy will be bigger and longer this year than the damage caused by the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, the Italian trade union FIM-CISL said on Friday, Reuters reports.
The lack of chips worldwide is forcing carmakers to slow production, as is the case with Stellantis, which has shut down several plants in Europe and the United States.
The carmaker anticipates that its production this year will be lower by 1.4 million vehicles.
“The hurricane of semiconductors is causing production shutdowns that have a greater impact than the quarantine of 2020. Estimates show that the situation will continue throughout the first half of 2022,” said FIM-CISL chief Ferdinando Uliano.
According to FIM-CISL, Stellantis produced 319,000 cars in Italy in the first 9 months of this year, 11% more than in the same period of 2020, when operations were stopped for several weeks due to the Covid-19 epidemic. .
But Uliano said that production in 2021 will barely reach the 461,000 units manufactured last year in Italy.
“It is practically impossible, the situation of the chips is getting worse and we will have other big closures,” he said, adding that a similar situation is expected in the case of the production of van vehicles at the Sevel factory in central Italy.
Stellantis, formed earlier this year by the merger of Fiat Chrysler and French group PSA, will open its Melfi plant, its largest unit in Italy, the equivalent of just six days in October.
The factory in Turin, Mirafiori, where the 500 electric car is produced, is among the few factories where no major blockages have taken place.
“Production of the BEV 500 must continue to meet its carbon reduction targets,” Uliano said.
The fourth largest carmaker in the world has decided to close a factory in Germany by the end of the year.
“The main risk is that Stellantis will decide to postpone investment planning and launching new models, as the chip crisis slows sales,” Uliano said.
The carmaker will present next month the Maserati Grecale SUV, followed by the Alfa Romeo Tonale SUV, the start of sales being planned from June 2022.
Italian unions will meet with Stellantis management on Monday (October 11th) at the Italian Ministry of Industry to discuss production and jobs in Italy.
Stellantis is the sixth largest automaker in the world Volkswagen, Toyota, Renault–Nissan–Mitsubishi, General Motors and Hyundai Motor Group.
Under the auspices of Stellantis are manufactured the brands Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Citroën, Dodge, DS, Fiat, Fiat Professional, Jeep, Lancia, Maserati, Opel, Peugeot, Ram and Vauxhall.
Did you like this article? Follow Business24 on Facebook too! Comment and see in your news feed on Facebook the newest and most interesting articles on Business24.
– .
