Since the commercial launch of the Fiat Grande Panda At the beginning of 2025, the good news comes mainly from order books. On the production lines, however, the situation remains worrying. Three weeks after Italian reinforcements were sent to the Serbian plant in Kragujevac, Stellantis has had to increase its workforce once again... but not at the rate hoped for.
A hundred Italian workers already on site
Back in mid-April, we revealed that Stellantis, faced with a local labor shortage, had seconded some thirty Italian workers from its Modena and Melfi plants to Kragujevacin Serbia. Early May, this figure had doubled to around sixty workers. And according to Milano Finanza, there are now around 100 on site, some of them also from the Atessa plant.
The aim is to kick-start a production rate that is in dire straits, at a time when demand is exploding. Since orders opened in February, 15,000 units have already been reserved. A definite commercial success, but one that is putting the industrial plant under strain.
Insufficient production
On May 7, we reported that production was peaking at 120 units a day, up slightly on the 80 to 100 vehicles a day recorded at the end of April. Today, despite the arrival of a second production shift.., the plant still does not exceed 180 vehicles/day. That's better, but still a long way from the 500 daily units Stellantis had initially set as a target.
As a direct consequence of this slowdown in production, delivery times are getting longer, especially for hybrid (MHEV) models. If you placed an order in April, you'll have to wait until November 2025 for a hybrid version, and until August for a 100 % electric version (BEV).
Industrial emergency
The Fiat Grande Panda is a key model for Fiat and Stellantis. Designed to relaunch the brand on the Old Continent, it combines neo-retro design, competitive pricing and an electrified offering. But to deliver on these promises, customers need to be able to take delivery within reasonable timescales.
In the face of these difficulties, Stellantis is counting not only on increasing the Italian workforce in Kragujevac, but also on the forthcoming opening of production lines in Brazil and Algeria to cater for local markets. In Europe, however, all the pressure remains on the Serbian plant.
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It was disaster to produce panda in Serbia. Real big error.