Stellantis to halt four French plants for several days over supply shortage

The Italian-French-American carmaker has been hit by surging demand for electric vehicles, particularly from business customers.

Car manufacturer Stellantis announced on Tuesday 29 September that it will halt production for between five and fifteen days in October at its plants in Sochaux, Rennes, Mulhouse and Poissy, citing industrial reasons.

In Sochaux, in eastern France, the historic Peugeot plant, which builds upmarket SUVs, is to shut down from 23 to 30 October. "This decision is linked to insufficient availability of certain batteries intended for the long-range versions of our electric vehicles", the company said in a statement.

Stellantis says that vehicles produced at the plant are in very high demand among business customers and that its capacity to secure parts supplies has been exceeded.

In Rennes, the shutdown is scheduled from 22 to 30 October. In Mulhouse, the stoppage will last 15 days, from 15 to 30 October. The site is due to receive 400 million euros out of the one-billion-euro investment package in France announced by the group in June.

From 2029, Stellantis plans to assemble three new models there, saloons and compact SUVs. The move is intended to safeguard the future of this plant, which opened almost 60 years ago.

The CGT union has condemned the decision to resort to short-time working. "If we are building fewer cars, let’s keep everyone, including agency workers, reduce line speeds and take the opportunity to improve working conditions and train employees", the union urged in a statement.

Finally, at Poissy, in the Paris region, production will stop from 19 to 23 October in order to "adjust production to market demand as part of a fine-tuned stock management strategy", Stellantis said. In April, the group announced that it would end production of its electric vehicle at the site by 2028, in favour of producing and recycling parts and preparing and converting vehicles.