MILAN (Reuters) -Carmaker Stellantis will stop operations at its key Melfi plant in southern Italy from late June 28 to July 2 due to a “structural” shortage of semiconductors, the UILM union said on Thursday.
A spokesman for the Italian-French carmaker confirmed the news and said it had been taking decisions on its operations on a day-by-day, plant-by-plant basis since the start of the COVID pandemic.
“We don’t expect to see a stabilization until the end of 2022,” the spokesman said.
The new stoppage – which will follow a production freeze between Friday last week and Saturday this week – means the Melfi plant will have only been operating for seven days in June, UILM metalworkers union said in a statement.
Marco Lomio, the head of UILM for Basilicata Region, where Melfi is located, said he feared July could be even worse.
“The company told us they had no visibility on supplies,” he told Reuters.
Stellantis produces vehicles including Compass and Renegade Jeep models in Melfi, where it employs more than 7,000 workers.
The group on Wednesday said that production halts were also affecting two of its plants in France.
(Reporting by Giulio Piovaccari, editing Federico Maccioni and Andrew Heavens)
