Stellantis has announced it will temporarily suspend production at several French plants in late October, citing a shortage of long-range electric vehicle batteries and the need to manage dealer inventories, according to Chinese automotive outlet D1EV.
The automaker said the plant in Sochaux, eastern France, which builds the Peugeot 3008 SUV, will halt operations from October 23 to 30, while the Rennes plant producing the Citroën C5 Aircross will shut down from October 22 to 30. Stellantis also plans to idle the Mulhouse plant for the last two weeks of October due to weaker-than-expected demand for models like the Peugeot 308, and the Poissy plant near Paris will pause from October 19 to 23.
Strong demand, tight supply
Stellantis said customer demand for electric vehicles with long-range batteries "remains strong, especially from corporate clients, and currently exceeds supply capacity." The company described the production adjustments as temporary, aimed at aligning output with market demand and avoiding an accumulation of vehicles that do not match consumer preferences.
The battery shortage hits the Citroën C5 Aircross particularly hard, as the long-range version of that model is being rolled out across multiple markets. Stellantis has long struggled with insufficient supply of long-range EV batteries, which come from Automotive Cells Co. (ACC), a joint venture backed by Stellantis, Mercedes-Benz, and TotalEnergies. ACC operates a battery plant in northern France.
Earlier this year, ACC said it had brought in a team of experts from China to boost battery output and reduce high production scrap rates. ACC declined to comment on the temporary stoppages but said it is ramping up production and "fulfilling its commitments to customer Stellantis, with battery module deliveries meeting its needs."
Broader production strain
The battery issue is not the only pressure on Stellantis's European operations. The company has also implemented intermittent stoppages at other plants in recent weeks due to parts shortages, including the Melfi plant in southern Italy. Last week, Stellantis announced a temporary shutdown of the Mirafiori plant in northern Italy from October 19 to 30, citing high local energy costs and weaker-than-expected demand for the hybrid Fiat 500.
Stellantis operates five vehicle assembly plants in France in total. The production halts come as gasoline and diesel prices in countries like France hit record highs, partly due to disruption to oil tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz amid conflicts involving the United States and Israel, which has in turn spurred a surge in electric vehicle demand.
