Stellantis halts production of electric Fiat 500 on back of poor demand: Report

Stellantis noted on Thursday that it will halt the production of its all electric Fiat 500 small car, for a month, on the back of slow demand, Reuters noted. 

The newswire noted that the suspension of the production will begin on Friday, the company noted, adding that it was "working hard to manage at its best this hard phase of transition."

The global slowdown in sales of EVs, partly on the back of differing policies on green incentives, has led to automakers worldwide recaliberating their EV plans, the newswire noted. 

In a company statement, Stellantis noted that the measure was 'necessary due to current lack of orders linked to the deep difficulties in the European electric (car) market by all producers, particularly the European ones." 

This car is made in Turin, the birthplace of the Fiat brand, at the Mirafiori plant, the newswire noted. 

Reuters further noted that to ramp up its efforts, Stellantis is investing 100 millon euros in Mirafiori, to work on a higher performance battery, and will make a hybrid version of this vehicle in between 2025-26. 

Unions have been asking for Stellantis to re-launch the Mirafiori site, where output has slowed in the past couple of years, the newswire reported. 

Italy earlier this year came up with a USD 1 billion plan enabling drivers to make the switch to cleaner vehicles, with subsidies for procurement of fully electric cars. However, Rome and the carmaker have been at loggerheads on the governments's approach to incentives, the newswire noted.