By Albertina Torsoli | Updated on Oct 06, 2026 at 01:27 PM
Stellantis NV is likely to assemble about 10% fewer vehicles in Italy this year than previously forecast, according to the Fim-Cisl labor union, which lowered its estimates due to production stops at the group’s Mirafiori plant.
The new forecast for output of about 450,000 cars and light commercial vehicles compares with an earlier Fim-Cisl target of 500,000 units for 2026. The carmaker is likely to produce about 60,000 hybrid Fiat 500s in Mirafiori this year, less than the company’s 100,000-unit goal, said Ferdinando Uliano, the union’s secretary general.
Stellantis has been under pressure to bolster production in Italy, the home base of brands such as Fiat, Lancia and Alfa Romeo, after output last year slumped to levels last seen in the mid-1950s . Activity has bounced back, with volumes for the first nine months of this year rising 28%, to levels that are starting to get near the 380,000 units produced in all of 2025.
Chief Executive Officer Antonio Filosa, who took the helm over a year ago, is introducing a slew of new products to help fill up underused plants across the group’s global footprint. A lack of components including batteries, as well as weaker-than-expected demand for models such as the hybrid Fiat 500, are causing temporary halts at factories in both Italy and France this month.
“We need a second model for Mirafiori” beyond the electric and hybrid Fiat 500, Uliano said during a media webcast Tuesday. “There’s an improvement in production volumes compared to last year, but last year was terrible. This isn’t enough.”
A Stellantis representative declined to comment on the union’s production figures and estimates.
Stellantis has brought new models such as the Jeep Compass to Melfi to replace an aging lineup and bolster Italian production. Like its rivals in the region, Stellantis is contending with a tough European Union regulatory backdrop and aggressive competition from Chinese manufacturers such as BYD Co. The company has called out high energy costs as another complicating factor for Italy production.
In the first nine months of the year, car output in Italy climbed almost 37% to 206,945 units thanks to models such as the Fiat Panda and the Compass, Uliano said. Production rose at all Stellantis sites in Italy with the exception of Cassino, which assembles the Maserati Grecale and old Alfa Romeo models. There, nine-month output slumped 37%.
“The situation in Cassino is no longer sustainable,” Uliano said. “The plant is up and running only five or six days a month.”
Filosa has pledged to keep all Stellantis plants open in both Italy and France. He pitched partnerships with China’s Zhejiang Leapmotor Technology Co. and Dongfeng Motor Corp. to fill up several sites in Europe.
The company is also in talks with China’s Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Group and Huawei Technologies Co. for partnerships that can help save the money-losing luxury brand Maserati.
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Fim-Cisl will welcome agreements with Chinese players that can help bring back production to Cassino as long as Stellantis retains control of any partnership and finds ways to protect local jobs and suppliers, he added.
“We don’t want our factories to become screwdriver plants that only assemble kits produced in China,” Uliano said. “It would make no sense for Stellantis to erode the Maserati brand.”