11:27 am, November 1, 2024
Stellantis has reported a massive drop in revenues following a slump in European new cars sales, though the manufacturer says that supply chain issues are also part of the problem.
The company, which owns Peugeot, Fiat, Vauxhall/Opel, Chrysler and Alfa Romeo reported revenues of €33bn (£27.6bn) for the July to September quarter, a drop of 27% or €12bn (£10bn) compared with the same period in 2023.
It sold 20% fewer cars, which it blamed partly on delays to the production of some models in Europe, led by supply chain hold-ups and the transitioning of factories from producing petrol and diesel cars to electric and hybrids.
The announcement comes on the back of similarly bleak forecasts from Volkswagen earlier this week, while BMW and Mercedes-Benz have also reported a fall in sales volumes.
Yet despite the bad news, Stellantis shares rose by 2.6% on Thursday to €12.55. Analysts said the figures were the ‘expected bad print, but not worse’ for a company whose share price had more than halved from a peak above €27 in March.
Doug Ostermann, chief financial officer of Stellantis, said the Q3 results were a ‘performance below our potential’ and blamed it on a build-up of unsold vehicles in the US and supply chain issues in Europe, which have delayed the launch of new or updated high-volume models such as the latest Citroen C3.
Stellantis is ahead of most European manufacturers when it comes to electrification, though, and at the Paris Motor Show last month it became the first European manufacturer to partner with a Chinese brand, Leapmotor, in an if-you-can’t-beat-them-join-them move.
But the company has also pushed back against European regulations such as ZEV mandates that force carmakers to sell more electric cars, including threatening to close factories. CEO Carlos Tavares said this month that the future of its UK factories would be decided ‘in the next few weeks’.
