Stellantis to halt production in Poissy and Pomigliano plants due to weak demand

PARIS/MILAN (Reuters) -Stellantis will temporarily halt production at its Poissy plant in France and Pomigliano in Italy, starting from the end of September and for up to three weeks, because of weak market demand in Europe.

Production would be stopped in Pomigliano, near Naples, from September 29 to October 6 for the Fiat Panda small car and from the same date to October 10 for the Alfa Romeo Tonale mid-sized SUV, Stellantis said on Tuesday.

The plant's 3,800 workers will be put on furlough, it added in a statement.

The announcement came after a spokesman for the automaker told Reuters on Monday it was pausing operations in Poissy, west of Paris, from October 13 to 31 "to adapt its production rate to a difficult market in Europe".

Poissy, which employs 2,000 people, makes the DS3 and Opel Mokka small SUVs. The plant will strive to manage its stocks as effectively as possible before the end of the year and take the opportunity to carry out work and schedule training courses, the spokesman said.

Car registrations in Europe were broadly flat in the January-July period versus a year earlier at around 7.9 million units, while those of the Stellantis brands fell 8% to 1.19 million units in the same period.

Stellantis said orders for the Alfa Romeo Tonale were also impacted by tariffs in the U.S., a significant market for the brand, while the decision to halt Panda production also reflected plant optimisation needs, as orders from fleets and rental companies tend to decline in the final part of the year.

"In this context, Stellantis has chosen a cautious and responsible approach, suspending production at the Pomigliano plant for a limited period," the carmaker said.

(Reporting by Gilles Guillaume in Paris and Giulio Piovaccari in Milan; writing by Giulio Piovaccari; editing by Nia Williams and Keith Weir)