AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)04/26 Report--

According to a letter released by the UAW yesterday, Stellantis will lay off about 3500 hourly workers in the United States, and the company will offer a voluntary departure plan, including a compensation package that includes $50000 to workers hired before 2007, the Financial Associated Press reported today. In addition, according to an UAW official, the Stellantis layoff plan is to reduce staff by offering seniority buyouts and retirement incentives, and employees can sign up for any package from May 6 to June 19. According to the needs of each factory, the departure time is tentatively scheduled for June 30 to December 31. Stellantis has yet to respond to the news.

It is worth noting that this is not the first time Stellantis has laid off staff. As early as February this year, there were media reports that Stellantis had signed an agreement with most unions involving up to 2000 layoffs and 2000 layoffs, according to a statement from Italian trade unions. The layoffs mainly involve workers who are not directly involved in production, and those laid off will receive early retirement and up to two years of wages and benefits for older workers. In addition, Stellantis cut 1820 jobs in Italy in July last year.

According to relevant information: Stellantis Group was founded in 2021 by Peugeot Citroen Group (PSA) and Fiat Chrysler Group (FCA) jointly formed, the two parties have a shareholding ratio of 50:50. Stellantis Group used to have many brands such as Fiat, Maserati, Jeep, Dodge, Ram, Peugeot, Citroen, Opel and DS. Although the new group has become the world's fourth largest automobile group after Volkswagen, Toyota and Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi, Stellantis Group's development path in the Chinese market is not smooth. With the withdrawal of Guangzhou Auto Fick from the Chinese market, Stellantis Group currently has only one joint venture in the domestic market.

However, DPCA's sales performance in China is also very mediocre, with figures showing that DPCA's cumulative sales volume in 2022 was 127000, falling short of the earlier target of 150000 in 2022. According to DPCA's website, DPCA has two major brands: Dongfeng Peugeot and Dongfeng Citroen, among which Dongfeng Peugeot products include Peugeot 408, Peugeot 508L, Peugeot 2008 Peugeot E2008, Peugeot 4008, Peugeot 5008 and so on; Dongfeng Citroen products include Tianyi C5 AIRCROSS, new C3-XR, Versailles C5X, C6 and other models. Judging from the products of the two major brands of DPCA, although the two brands have a large number of products, there are not many models with good sales. For example, in March this year, Peugeot sold 2412 Peugeot 408s and Peugeot 4008 513s. the latest sales of Versailles C5X under Dongfeng Citroen are 1624, while the rest are only about 100.

Of course, DPCA also had a high-light period, with annual sales peaking at 700000. However, at the same time when DPCA is moving towards highlight, due to the influence of product quality, technology iteration, business philosophy, slow iteration of product renewal and other reasons, DPCA's sales have shown a continuous downward trend since 2016. Sales of DPCA in the Chinese market fell from 600200 in 2016 to 377000 in 2017, down 15.2 per cent from a year earlier. Sales of DPCA fell again to 253000 in 2018, when DPCA closed idle factories to reduce operating costs. Sales halved in 2019 compared with 2018, with sales falling to 113600. In 2020, DPCA sold only 50,000 cars, down 55.74% from the same period last year and hitting rock bottom.

In order to reverse the depressed sales, DPCA issued a "yuan" recovery plan and carried out a series of personnel changes. To some extent, these measures have helped DPCA's sales, which rebounded to 101000 units in 2021. In 2023, DPCA put forward a product plan for a comprehensive transition to electrification, and with the recent launch of Dongfeng Peugeot 408X, it will take time to see whether DPCA can return to its peak sales in the future.

For the Chinese market, of course, Stellantis Group has not given up. Although Fiat and jeep have withdrawn from the Chinese market, Stellantis Group has been laying out the sales channels in the Chinese market. In February 2023, Stellantis Group changed the name of Alfa Romeo (Shanghai) Automobile sales Co., Ltd. to Steelantes (Shanghai) Automobile Co., Ltd., which is mainly responsible for the business of Jeep, Alfa Romeo and DS in China, as well as the hard retrofit after-sales brand Mopar. Ashwani Muppasani, chairman of the board of directors of Stellandis (Shanghai), has said that the four integrated brands will not compete with each other, each brand has its own budget, there is no market overlap, can better achieve synergy.

In this regard, some industry insiders pointed out: the development trend of the Chinese market is rapid growth, Stellantis Group did not give up the Chinese market, but adopted a light asset strategy. Stellantis Group has worked hard in the Chinese market for many years and will not give up easily. Moreover, the imported models of the group's brands have always been favored by consumers, which will be a major entry point for the Stellantis Group.

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