Stellantis agrees to a new furlough scheme for workers at its Termoli plant in southern Italy, as U.S. tariffs continue to place pressure on the company in the midst of a cost-cutting strategy.
From the beginning of September, more than 1,800 staff at the plant will be put on furlough for 80% of their contracted working hours for 12 months, Reuters reports.
The move illustrates the daunting task facing the automaker who, as we reported in July, endured a crippling first half to 2025 announcing losses of $2.7 billion.
Its new agreement with workers’ unions replaces a previous scheme that affected about half of the workers now to be placed on furlough.
A spokesman for Stellantis confirms the signing of the agreement.
The Termoli plant is responsible for manufacturing gasoline internal-combustion engines for brands across the group.
A spokesperson for Uilm, one of the unions involved in the agreement, puts much of the blame for workers’ cut hours on the engine built for the Jeep Compass SUV shipped to the U.S., telling the news agency that 500 workers are employed in creating the units.
Now that the vehicles are subject to U.S. import tariffs, “This will definitely have an impact on activity in Termoli,” he says.
Meanwhile, sources also tell the news agency that the high costs of developing new advanced driver-assist systems could see Stellantis shelving its much-trumpeted STLA AutoDrive Level 3 autonomous driving program that WardsAuto reported on at its U.S. launch in February.
The system tells the driver when it is safe to be activated at speeds of up to 37 mph (60 km/h) and then requests the driver take back control when conditions change, while enabling Level 2 and Level 2+ capabilities at higher speeds.
A Stellantis spokesperson does not confirm the rumors but tells the agency, “What was unveiled in February 2025 was L3 technology for which there is currently limited market demand, so this has not been launched, but the technology is available and ready to be deployed.”
