MILAN (Reuters) – Carmaker Stellantis will once again halt car production in December at its Mirafiori plant in Turin, for at least another month, daily MF reported on Friday, citing two sources.
The planned stoppage is expected to start at the end of November and the plant might open again after Jan. 6, the report added.
“This is a rumour that has no official confirmation. The company will verify in the coming weeks the production schedules for December,” a spokesman for Stellantis told Reuters when asked for comment on the report.
Production at the historic site, which makes the electric Fiat 500 city car and two Maserati sports cars, had already been suspended until Nov. 1.
Stellantis has concentrated three months worth of production linked to its orders for he Fiat 500 into November in order to then be able to stop, the report explained. It added the group does not have all the components required to assemble the car in December.
Stellantis is facing industry-wide challenges such as low demand for more expensive electric vehicles and competition from China. It is also grappling with excess U.S. inventories that have led it to cut profit and cash-flow forecasts.
(Reporting by Alessia Pé and Giulio Piovaccari, editing Giulia Segreti and Michael Perry)
