Stellantis Swings Output to Fiat 500 Hybrid in Italy Renaissance
(Bloomberg) -- Stellantis NV will produce some 100,000 hybrid Fiat 500s at its Mirafiori plant next year, giving a lifeline to the historic center of Fiat Spa, as the manufacturer makes good on a pledge to bolster output in Italy.
Fiat this month started producing the hybrid version of the €16,950 ($19,613) city car, switching course because of lagging demand for the fully electric version. Demand for hybrids with a battery that supports the combustion engine but lacks a charging plug continues to grow, the brand’s Chief Executive Officer Olivier Francois said at an event in Turin on Tuesday.
The new model, named Torino to highlight its local production, is a key plank in Stellantis Chairman John Elkann’s efforts that have helped mend relations with Italian unions, dealers and the government. The shifting of production to lower-cost countries under the group’s previous CEO Carlos Tavares angered Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
During the first nine months of the year, Stellantis car production in Italy slumped 36%, according to the FIM-CISL labor union, to just over 150,000 units.
New CEO Antonio Filosa, who took the helm in June, said Tuesday the company is sticking to its plan to invest €2 billion in Italy and place €6 billion in orders with Italian suppliers this year. Stellantis is hiring 400 additional workers in Mirafiori to help support production of the hybrid Fiat 500, with a second shift scheduled to start in March.
The Mirafiori facility in Turin is the historic center of Fiat and once employed around 50,000 workers. During its 1970s heyday, production exceeded 600,000 cars annually.
Both Elkann and Filosa on Tuesday reiterated their calls for more flexibility in the European Union’s CO2 emissions rules to help protect jobs in the region’s auto industry. Industry stakeholders and EU policymakers are due to meet in the coming weeks to review a 2035 goal that would in practice end the sale of combustion engine-powered vehicles.
“Our faith in an electric future is unchanged,” Elkann said at the event. “Still, if we are ready, the market certainly isn’t — our clients want to have the freedom to chose the car they want.”
The EU “must change its rules quickly, not to stop electrification but to put in place a realistic plan that can help reinforce the region as a producer instead of reducing it to a market for others,” Elkann added.
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