MILAN (Reuters) -Production of passenger cars and vans at Stellantis (NYSE:STLA)' Italian plants fell 9.8% year-on-year in the first three months of this year to 170,415 units, the FIM-CISL union said on Friday.
The automaker is holding discussions with the Italian government over a plan to reverse a multi-year trend of falling production in the country and take it back to one million units by the end of this decade, implying an overall output growth of around 25% compared to last year.
First quarter data "take Stellantis further away from the one million output target," the head of FIM-CISL Ferdinando Uliano said, presenting a quarterly report on Stellantis' production levels.
The Franco-Italian group has said the output goal depended on several factors including auto purchase incentives, lower energy costs and the development of an electric vehicle charging network.
First-quarter output fell 51% in Mirafiori, as delays with Italy's new auto purchase incentive scheme and a soft global demand for fully-electric vehicles weighed on production rates of Fiat's 500 BEV small car, FIM-CISL said.
A spokesperson for Stellantis said the company does not normally comment on output data reported by the union.
The union projects a full-year output for Stellantis in Italy of 630,000 vehicles in 2024, down from 751,000 last year, based on first-quarter data.
The forecast, however, does not factor in auto purchase incentives announced by the government, worth around 950 million euros ($1 billion) for 2024, which are expected to become effective this quarter.
"We're confident this forecast can improve over the course of the year," Uliano said, adding Stellantis estimates incentives could add 20,000 unit sales for the 500 BEV in 2024.
($1 = 0.9228 euros)