Stellantis pledges to invest nearly €2 billion in Italian production next year

Stellantis executives laid out prospects for Italian operations just weeks after the board forced former CEO Carlos Tavares to resign amid slumping sales. He is being replaced by an executive committee led by chairman John Elkann until a new CEO is named.

Stellantis, the world’s fourth-largest carmaker, was formed from the 2021 merger of Fiat Chrysler and PSA Peugeot. Its fiscal base is in the Netherlands, but it retains headquarters in Turin, Paris and Auburn Hills, Michigan.

Stellantis European chief Jean-Philippe Imparato told the economic, labour and economic development ministers that Turin would become the headquarters of the carmakers’ European operations from January, addressing a concern among Italian officials and unions since the merger that the automaker’s centre of gravity had shifted.

Meeting behind closed doors, Imparato told the ministers that Stellantis’ six automaking factories in Italy will boost production with the launch of more than a dozen new models through 2032, according to the Stellantis media office.

New models include a new Fiat Pandina city car in Pomigliano d’Arco near Naples from 2028, while Mirafiori in Turin will be the basis of production for the 500 city car with both hybrid and full-electric powertrains. Melfi and Cassino in southern Italy will get new hybrid vehicles, including a new Jeep Compass and Alfa Romeo Giulia.

“I won’t hide that 2025 will be a hard year, but all of the factories in Italy will be active," Imparato told a news conference after the meeting, which also included unions, regional officials and industry representatives.

Economic Development Minister Adolfo Urso said that one reason for production lulls are new European rules that come into effect on 1 January that require one-fifth of cars being produced to be be electric vehicles, or otherwise there will be fines. He called for the rules to be changed.

Plants in Italy have been cycling through short-term layoff programs because of lagging sales, especially of electric vehicles.

While unions welcomed the announcements, they remained sceptical that they would lead to a turnaround. They said the layoff schemes were likely to continue through next year.

“There are not the conditions to say that we have entered a new phase,'' said Rocco Palombella, head of the Uilm union. “Perhaps a new phase in industrial relations, but not a new phase guaranteeing factories, or to say the situation will improve from tomorrow.”