Alexandre
The Termoli plant, owned by Stellantis, is facing an unprecedented production crisis. After several production stoppages last Julythe Italian engine plant is once again in dire straits. Stellantis has just announced two new shutdown periods for the plant, from September 2 to 8 and from September 23 to 29.. These new interruptions come on top of the repeated shutdowns this summer, and point to an uncertain future for this historic facility.
A worsening situation
A month ago, the Termoli plant had already attracted attention for its lower orders for internal combustion engines. GME engines, which power the Alfa Romeo Giulia and Stelvio as well as the Maserati Ghibli and Levante hybrids, are suffering from the rapid transition to electric power. The Group's Stellantis has also widely adopted the Puretech engine for its new models. The GSE (Firefly) engine, once a mainstay of Termoli's production, has been sidelined. As for the V6 engine, it remains confined to niche models such as the Alfa Romeo Quadrifoglio and Maserati Trofeo, a market too limited to ensure the plant's viability.
Increasingly limited future prospects
The Termoli plant's future was to be secured by its transformation into a battery Gigafactory, a project announced in 2022 by Automotive Cells Company (ACC), a joint venture between Stellantis, Mercedes-Benz and TotalEnergies. However, the shift to electric vehicles has not proceeded as quickly as expected, partly due to the still insufficient demand for electric vehicles. The Gigafactory project has been put on hold.leaving the plant in an increasingly precarious situation.
The meeting scheduled for August 7 with Minister Urso, the unions and Stellantis was supposed to clarify the future of the plant, but solutions seem hard to find. ACC has announced that it will present details of its new industrial strategy by the end of the year or early in 2025.But in the meantime, production stoppages have become more frequent.
A dark future for Termoli
Maserati's announcement to become a 100 % electric brand by 2028, and Alfa Romeo's to reach this goal as early as 2027, also mark a decisive turning point. These brands will no longer use combustion engines, marking the end of V6, GME and GSE engines. Only the Fiat range could still depend on Termoli, including the future Fiat 500 hybrid scheduled for 2025-2026. But this project seems meagre given the scale of the plant's business losses.
Termolionce a flagship of Italian mechanical production, now finds itself in a struggle for survival. Employees and the region as a whole are holding their breath as they await the strategic decisions to be taken by Stellantis and its partners. The future of this plant, which has already suffered so many disruptions, seems increasingly compromised, and the additional two weeks of shutdown may not be the last.
It's scandalous to put less FireFly in Fiat cars in favor of PureTech engines. It's scandalous because the Termoli plant can no longer work, and because the PureTech is a bad engine with well-known reliability problems, unlike the FireFly, which is very good.
The strategy of the group and of Tavares, who doesn't give a damn about Italian brands or Italian factories. And an inability to understand that customers of Italian car brands don't want PureTech!
The puretoc on our Fiat, that's all we needed.
And you continue with your electric motors? Haven't you realized yet that your electric motors won't do you any good? Stop with those torches.
The Italians need to open their doors to Chinese manufacturers, provided they use a certain percentage of made-in-Italy components. As Spain did with Ford, the UK with Toyota and Poland with Fiat. No more sentiment or whining for Stellantis, Fiat and co. The Italians can't wait for anything to happen, but must be enterprising from now on. Fortunately, Italian luxury goods are doing wonderfully well, including in the automotive sector, where the jewels are imperishable and stable. For decades, Italy has turned its attention to other sectors: automation, aerospace, naval, arms, renewable energy, furniture, design, etc., all in cutting-edge fields with high added value. Not to mention the huge construction, agri-food and tourism sectors. We have a lot going for us. But now we need to take the opportunity to learn from the best, who are now on the Asian continent.
All the major automakers are putting the brakes on electric power, and STELLANTIS wants to turn MASERATI and Alfa into battery-powered cars...
Let them sell MASERATI to another group (if possible)... They don't know how to manage premium brands.