In Mirafiori, the stops are starting to become a regular occurrence. A few days later The first outages in September, Stellantis has just announced another day without production at its historic plant in Turin. The production line at the Fiat 500 Hybrid classes will be suspended again on Monday, September 14.
With this latest shutdown, Mirafiori will have accumulated six days of production stoppages in September. This is a surprising situation, given that the explanation offered by Stellantis could almost be seen as good news: demand for hybrid cars is reportedly exceeding the production capacity for certain components. But from the unions’ perspective, the situation is much more concerning.
Only 10 days of production after the holidays
The situation is all the more surprising given that Mirafiori is just coming out of a long summer shutdown. The vacation period had been extended to four weeks, up from the two originally planned. Since resuming operations, the plant has reportedly worked only 10 of the 15 available days, even before the new shutdown scheduled for Monday, September 14.
And production isn’t keeping pace with initial expectations. According to the unions, the Fiat 500 production line is currently running at about 360 cars per day, whereas the recovery plans called for up to 480 cars per day on a two-shift schedule. To meet the announced targets, there had even been talk of working on certain Saturdays and avoiding downtime until Christmas. For now, however, the opposite is happening.
Stellantis says demand is definitely there
The automaker continues to explain, however, that these production halts are not due to a lack of orders. According to Stellantis, the difficulties stem from supply issues with certain components needed for the Fiat 500 Hybrid’s engines. The problem reportedly involves, in particular, the Teksid plant in Carmagnola, near Turin, which currently lacks sufficient production capacity.
Stellantis had explained to employee representatives that the situation was due to «demand for hybrid cars exceeding production capacity.» In other words, there were customers, but some suppliers were unable to keep up.
Unions fear layoffs in the coming months
This explanation is becoming less and less convincing to the FIOM. «We asked the company to maintain production, but the only continuity we’re seeing is in the production stoppages, which are now happening every week,» said Edi Lazzi, secretary of the FIOM in Turin, and Gianni Mannori, the union’s representative at Mirafiori.
«What was supposed to be a year of production recovery and full employment is turning into a dire omen for the future of automobile production in Mirafiori and for its entire supply chain. We face the risk of further layoffs in the coming months.»
Gianni Mannori, FIOM representative at Mirafiori
For them, what was supposed to be the year of recovery is turning into «a terrible sign of decline» for Mirafiori and all of its subcontractors. The union is now openly discussing the risk of a return to short-time work. After several difficult years at Mirafiori, this new period of reduced activity is understandably reigniting concerns about jobs.
A second model is becoming even more urgent
The FIOM has been calling for several months for at least one new model to be assigned to Mirafiori. The union believes that the Fiat 500 Hybrid and the 500 Electric will not be enough to ensure sufficient long-term production at the plant. And for now, as far as we know, no new model—whether from Fiat or another brand—is planned for the Mirafiori plant…
Two versions of the story therefore continue to clash. Stellantis claims that the shutdowns are caused by demand exceeding production capacity for certain components. The unions, however, point to a plant that has just spent four weeks shut down, has worked only about ten days since resuming operations, and is already starting to shut down again almost every week.
English 
French 
Italian 
Spanish 
German 
Japanese 
Dutch