Evidence that Stellantis is teetering on the edge continues to pile up — and a new report from Reuters shows that it’s not just the American division of the massive automotive conglomerate that are struggling. Union figures show that vehicle manufacturing in Italy by the company has fallen 37% since last year — a dive that marks the lowest levels of car production by the affiliated brands in the southern European nation since 1956.
And it wasn’t just the consumer-minded likes of Alfa Romeo and Maserati that were hit; commercial vehicle production didn’t escape the same fate. It saw a 17% decline compared to 2023, according to data from the FIM-CISL union.
Formed after the merger of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and PSA-Peugeot in 2021, the FIM-CISL union represents the vast collection of workers under Stellantis’s 14 brands. Responsible for 751,384 units produced in Italy in 2023, the Italian trade union says it only produced 475,090 vehicles in Italy last year. Italian auto laborers will soon be taking to the street in Brussels, as the union has announced its intentions to join the IndustriALL Europe demonstration on February 5.
“This is a battle for Europe,” Uliano said to Reuters. “Single countries can only lose.”
Currently, Stellantis operates five factories in Italy. The most notable of these is the Mirafori plant near Turin, which is responsible for producing Fiat’s 500e and the Maserati GranTurismo and GranCabrio pair. Work was initially paused at the plant in November of 2024 before Stellantis decided to extend the production line hold until January 20. Production at this plant fell by more than 70% in 2024.
Worse, Maserati’s plant in Modena, which is responsible for the MC20 supercar and Nettuno V-6 engine production, posted production numbers down by 79% year-over-year. Stellantis executives have made attempts to get ahead of these numbers, claiming the Modena plant will be transformed into a hub for its highest-end EVs — but plans for the company’s Italian manufacturing resurgence aren’t set to arrive until 2026. That impending $2.1 billion investment in Italy, Stellantis says, will bring two new compact EVs out of Alfa Romeo’s Pomigliano plant and the electrification of a shared Jeep / Lancia / DS crossover at the Melfi plant.
These passenger car investments are yet to be proven as viable means to dig Italian auto manufacturing out of its slump, but Stellantis’s commercial and parts supplying schemes perhaps provide a more hopeful vision. EV vans are well underway at the Atessa plant in Southeastern Italy under the Fiat Professional, Peugeot, Citroen, and Opel/Vauxhall Movano brand names. Similarly, the nearby Termoli plant is set on battery production for Stellantis’ EV platforms with help from ACC, transforming its engine-building factory into a future-forward resource.
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