The automotive group Stellantis announced this Thursday, January 16, a 12% drop in its volumes of vehicles delivered during 2024, weighed down in particular by a 25% drop in North America, according to a statement.
A year also marked by the departure of its boss, Carlos Tavares, pushed towards the exit after ten years in the group, from PSA to Stellantis.
Fall limited to 5% in the last quarter
In the fourth quarter, vehicle volumes – “delivered to our dealers, to our distributors or directly by the company to retail customers and to the company’s fleets” – decreased by 9% at the group level, after a drop of 20 % in the third quarter.
During the last three months of the year, Stellantis (Peugeot, Fiat, Chrysler, etc. brands) delivered a total of 1,395,000 units to its network, “a volume that progressively converges towards that of sales” to the end customer, “which “Decreased approximately 5% during the period, driven by inventory reduction initiatives in the United States and shipments to Europe that were supported by the launch of certain next-generation models,” according to the statement.
By region, in North America, “fourth quarter turnover decreased by approximately 115,000 units compared to the same period in 2023, representing a drop of 28% year-over-year, while sales saw a more modest drop of 5% year-on-year”, due to this phenomenon of inventory reduction in American dealers.
As for “broader” Europe, the drop in turnover reached 6% in the fourth quarter compared to the previous year, “significantly reduced compared to the third quarter (-17% year-on-year),” highlights Stellantis.
Promising start for new models.
According to the group, “the first European launches of the wave of new generation products from Stellantis have had a promising start, with orders for more than 90,000 units of the Citroën C3/ëC3 and more than 140,000 units of the Peugeot 3008. Peugeot 5008 and Opel Grandland.
Elsewhere, Stellantis reports a 12% increase in turnover in South America and “stability” in the Middle East and Africa, “largely offsetting declines in shipments in China, India and Asia-Pacific.” ”.
Like other giants in the sector, Stellantis is going through a difficult time after years of record profits since its founding in 2021 with the merger of PSA (Peugeot-Citroën) and Fiat-Chrysler. The cause is sales of electric vehicles in Europe, which have been falling since the end of 2023, especially due to the lack of affordable models.
Source: BFM TV
