It stops again Mirafiori factory. stellantis announced the production stoppage of the factory which will involve 2.260 body shop workers. There break will last three weeks, from February 12 to March 3, i employees they will go in redundancy fund. The decision came during the meeting between the company and the unions and was made known by Fiom.
The Turin factory that produces the electric Fiat 500 and Maserati models had already taken a break two weeks in October.
The Group, led by CEO Tavares, stated that this decision is motivated by the need to adapt the production of cars attemporary trend of market demand.
Mirafiori: production drop of 9,3%
Mirafiori closes due to the market slowdown, in the very year in which the electric Fiat 500 is scheduled to debut in the United States.
The predominant theme for the Turin plant concerns i production volumes, with the construction of the Maserati and the traditional Fiat 500. In 2023, they were 85.940 units produced, recording one decrease of 9,3% compared to 2022.
In the last year, in Mirafiori, there have been 77.500 units produced of Fiat 500 electric, a positive result but below expectations for the first half of the year while the production of Maserati fell by 50%, with 8.680 units and 5 models (GT, GC, Levante, Ghibli and Quattroporte). And for 2024 there are new critical issues with the suspension of production of the historic Quattroporte and Ghibli models, despite the introduction of the new electric versions of the Gran Turismo and Gran Cabrio.
Mirafiori: unions worried
I metalworkers' unions, who recently promoted a joint initiative to highlight the delicate situation of the historic Turin factory, express concern for the negative repercussions of this situation, in particular with regards to workers' wages employed on assembly lines.
“We will immediately take action to ask for a meeting with the company to understand why 2024 started in difficulty" reiterated the Uilm secretary Luigi Paone, "in order to better manage the production stop of the body shops and find solutions capable of protecting the income of workers, such as their secondment to other entities of the Stellantis Group".
“Mirafiori is in agony, it is necessary to give it oxygen with new productions” he said Ed Lazzi, secretary of the Fiom of Turin,
“The redundancy fund significantly penalizes workers economically. With 2024 we have entered the seventeenth consecutive year of use of social safety nets in the body shop. This means that the workers have lost tens of thousands of euros in wages over this very long time. This is why we asked the company, without receiving a response at the moment, to economically integrate the pay differential even in light of the large revenues that the Stellantis group made during 2023" he commented Gianni Mannori, Fiom manager of Mirafiori.
New Chief Operating Officer in North America
Stellantis announced that starting February 1, 2024, Carlos Zarlenga placeholder image will take over the role of Chief Operating Officer for North America in Stellantis, replacing Mark Stewart.
Zarlenga, with over a decade of experience in the automotive sector in different regions, joined the Group in 2022 and has achieved important results such as President of Stellantis Mexico. During his tenure, he led significant improvements in sales performance, market share and profits, reaching the highest profit level ever recorded in Mexico.
“In the very demanding market of North America, with many obstacles to overcome to promote the Group's performance, Carlos Zarlenga placeholder image is the best leader in our talent pool to replace Mark Stewart and lead the shift in our business model towards electrification in this region,” he said Carlos TavaresCEO stellantis – Carlos Zarlenga has demonstrated his ability to bring together and unite different teams, providing the expected results."
