Stellantis says production halts are possible in Italy because of parts shortages, and reports point to two plants stopping this week. Florence Costanzo, regional secretary of the Ugl Metalmeccanici union, said Melfi in Basilicata will halt from November 2 to 6 for lack of components, Il Mattino di Foggia reported on October 30. ItalPassion says Mirafiori in Turin has a third week of downtime over the same dates.

Italian stoppages are not new. Melfi was already due to halt from September 28 to October 2 over a component shortage, MarkLines reported. Reuters reported a Mirafiori stoppage for September 2 to 4 and, in early October, that three French and two Italian plants would halt, with Mirafiori shut for two weeks at the end of October. For two of those plants the cause was a shortage of electric vehicle batteries.

Stellantis said in September, as Reuters reported, that its Teksid plant in Carmagnola, which supplies Mirafiori, was making too little for hybrid demand, but the FIOM union blamed weak Fiat 500 demand. ItalPassion says Italian unions no longer accept the shortage explanation.

There is little room for lost output, as Stellantis's European business was the only region without a positive adjusted operating margin in the second quarter, when the group margin was 1.8%. On July 30 the company reaffirmed a low-single-digit margin for 2026. A stopped plant is output lost outright, on top of the worries that sent BMW, Volkswagen and Stellantis shares lower on October 27 after Mercedes-Benz cut its cars adjusted return on sales outlook to 2% to 3%.

Stoppages of this kind also weaken the case Stellantis's chief executive made to President Macron on October 12, that Europe must move quickly on CO2 rules to support made-in-Europe production, with electric car output due to start at Pomigliano.

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