Fiat Panda Production to Be Suspended as Stellantis Battles Inventory Overload

Fiat Panda production in Italy will be suspended next month as parent company Stellantis rolls back on assembly and engine production as part of its cutbacks to vehicle shipments.

The troubled automaker group says the planned stoppages affect the Pomigliano d'Arco, Termoli and Pratola Serra factories on several days during the last two weeks of the month, Reuters reports.

Stellantis has already suspended production until the end of this month at its historic Mirafiori plant in Turin, where the Fiat 500e city car and two Maserati models are produced.

In a company statement the automaker says it was determined to “ensure the continuity” of its Italian operations but notes it is facing “a challenging path requiring difficult choices and offering no easy solutions.”

Stellantis is facing industrywide challenges such as low demand for more expensive battery-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.

It expects a 20% drop in global third-quarter consolidated vehicle shipments to reduce excess vehicle inventories, especially in North America, following its prediction of lower profits and revenues for the full-year 2024.

The group estimates its global shipments will fall to 1.15 million vehicles in the third quarter, down from 1.43 million in the same period of last year.

Stellantis says the shipment decline was steeper than a forecast 15% drop in underlying sales in the period “due to the temporary impacts of transitions in our product portfolio and dealer inventory reduction initiatives.”