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

MILAN — 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 recent CEO is named.

Stellantis, the globe’s fourth-largest carmaker, was formed from the 2021 union of Fiat Chrysler and PSA Peugeot. Its financial 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 advancement ministers that Turin would become the headquarters of the carmakers’ European operations from January, addressing a concern among Italian officials and unions since the union that the automaker’s center of gravity had shifted.

conference 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 recent models through 2032, according to the Stellantis media office.

recent models include a recent 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 packed-electric powertrains. Melfi and Cassino in southern Italy will get recent hybrid vehicles, including a recent Jeep Compass and Alfa Romeo Giulia.

“I won’t hide that 2025 will be a challenging year, but all of the factories in Italy will be energetic,” Imparato told a information conference after the conference, which also included unions, regional officials and industry representatives.

Economic advancement Minister Adolfo Urso said that one rationale for production lulls are recent European rules that arrive into result 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 navigator to a turnaround. They said the layoff schemes were likely to continue through next year.

“There are not the conditions to declare that we have entered a recent phase,” said Rocco Palombella, head of the Uilm union. “Perhaps a recent phase in industrial relations, but not a recent phase guaranteeing factories, or to declare the circumstance will enhance from tomorrow.”