Stellantis pledges invest $2.1 million in Italian production in 2025 during talks with government

By COLLEEN BARRY The Associated Press

Executives from Stellantis and economic, labor and economic development ministers sit during a meeting held at the Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy in Rome, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024. (Mauro Scrobogna/LaPresse via AP)[ASSOCIATED PRESS/Mauro Scrobogna]

MILAN (AP) — Carmaker Stellantis will invest 2 billion euros ($2.1 billion) in Italian production next year and spend another 6 billion euros ($6.3 billion) in the supply chain, the head of European operations told a government panel on Tuesday.

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, labor 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 center of gravity had shifted.

Meeting behind closed doors, Imparato told the ministers that Stellantis’ six automaking factories in Italy will boost production from 2026 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 Jan. 1 that one-fifth of cars being produced must be electric vehicles, or face stiff 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 skeptical 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.”