ROME, Feb 7 (Reuters) – The Stellantis-backed Automotive Cells Company (ACC) told unions it had dropped plans to build gigafactories in both Italy and Germany, the Italian metalworkers’ union UILM said in a statement on Saturday.
ACC, a battery joint venture in which Stellantis is the largest investor, had plans for three gigafactories in Europe — in France, Germany and Italy.
However, UILM said ACC management had informed them that the planned projects for Termoli, in Italy, and Kaiserslautern, in Germany, had been “definitively shelved”.
ACC said in a subsequent statement on Saturday that the projects in Germany and Italy had been on standby since May 2024 and added that the “prerequisites” to restart them were unlikely to be met. It said “different scenarios” were being considered.
Stellantis said it was closely monitoring the situation, and that it remained “fully mobilised” to assess industrial and social implications.
Stellantis shares plunged 25.2% on Friday, their biggest single-day drop on record, after the Franco-Italian company booked charges of around 22.2 billion euros ($26.5 billion) as it scaled down electric-vehicle development plans.
ACC, which is owned by Stellantis, Mercedes-Benz and TotalEnergies, has started production at a plant in France, but put on hold the Italian and German projects amid lacklustre demand for electric vehicles.
ACC’s initial 2020 goal was to have three production lines in the three countries each with an annual capacity of 8 Gigawatt-hours (GWh). The plan now is to have only two blocks in France, but with a higher installed capacity of 13 and 15 GWh.
The French plant is producing products for Stellantis vehicles at present but a source close to the matter said production of finished batteries for Mercedes should start in mid-2026.
Saturday’s news highlights once again the difficulty Europe is having in building its own battery industry to reduce its dependency on supplies and technologies from Asia.
UILM said Stellantis had previously outlined plans for the production of gearboxes and engines at Termoli but had not provided operational details.
“The failure to build the ACC gigafactory must in fact be offset by clear and coherent industrial decisions,” UILM said.
Stellantis said it remained committed to investing in gearbox and engine production at Termoli.
“As agreed a year ago, these measures are intended to support Made in Italy and to secure the plant’s future. Current ACC employees will be offered continued employment within Stellantis,” it said.
(Reporting by Crispian Balmer, Giulio Piovaccari and Gille Guillaume; Editing by Aidan Lewis)
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