Italy: Stellantis Melfi plant to produce five electric models

Stellantis is increasing electric car production in Southern Italy. The Melfi plant just won the contract to manufacture another EV model and will build a total of five electric cars starting next year. Meanwhile, Maserati and Fiat are facing less productive times.

Staying in Melfi, midway between Naples and Bari, the metalworkers’ union UILM broke the news. In addition to the four electric models Stellantis already announced last year, the Group awarded the plant the Jeep Compass in pure EV form with a hybrid offshoot.

Electric cars based on Stellantis’ STLA Medium platform will start rolling off the lines in Melfi at the beginning of 2024 with a DS model, followed by another DS model and the Jeep Compass in 2025, electric models from Opel/Vauxhall and Lancia will follow in 2026.

Details remain scarce apart from the Jeep Compass being an SUV. Reports in 2022 said the DS models would be a crossover called the DS 9 Crossback and an SUV to succeed the DS 7 Crossback. The Lancia model was to bear the traditional name Aurelia (referring to a model series from the 1950s), while the Opel is to be an electric successor to the Insignia – but it remains unclear whether the e-Lancia and the Opel will be saloons or SUVs.

All models will exhibit 400 Volts in line with the cost-saving STLA Medium design; 800-volt versions require the STLA Large and the STLA Frame base with ladder frame for US pickups and vans. Batteries will hold up to 98 kWh with WLTP ranges of up to 700 kilometres. There will be front-wheel and all-wheel drives with an output of between 160 and 285 kW.

Currently, the Melfi plant produces the Fiat 500X, the Jeep Renegade and the current generation Jeep Compass. According to UILM, production of these models is to be discontinued between 2024 and 2025.

Stellantis has yet to confirm the electric Jeep Compass or the end of production of the current model series – the carmaker did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Meanwhile, Stellantis has partially halted the lines in Mirafiori, Turin, due to weak demand. After pausing production last week, Mirafiori will break again from 19 October to 3 November, a spokeswoman told Automotive News Europe.

The plant in Northern Italy builds four Maserati models and the battery-electric Fiat 500. The Maserati line was already at a standstill for several days in the first half of the year, while the break only affected the Fiat 500 in the second half.

Our recent report from Spain said Stellantis plans to locate the STLA Small e-car platform production at the Spanish plants in Vigo and Zaragoza. The STLA Small is to replace the current e-CMP for electric vehicles with a range of up to 500 kilometres in the A, B and C segments.

reuters.com, uilmnazionale.it, autonews.com (Paywall)