Stellantis shipments tumble 20% in third quarter

Vehicle deliveries at Stellantis dropped by 20% in the third quarter due to inventory reduction in North America and delayed product launches in Europe – its two largest markets.

The manufacturer, which owns a portfolio of brands including Jeep, Chrysler, Fiat, Citroën and Peugeot, reported total deliveries of 1.15m units in the three months to 30 September, down from 1.43m last year.

North American shipments plunged 36% to 299,000 units due to the already mentioned production cuts to reduce dealer inventory, along with so-called "product portfolio gaps" as the company gears up for launching a new generation of products with multi-energy offerings, Stellantis said on Wednesday.

In Europe, deliveries were down 17% at 496,000 units, mainly due to delayed launches of products based on its Smart Car platform, including the Citroën C3, which began shipping last month. However, the company said the outlook for new European product launches was "strong" with 50,000 orders for the Citroën C3 and 80,000 for the Peugeot 3008.

The automaker's third-largest region, South America, grew shipments by 14% to 259,000, while deliveries tumbled in the Middle East and Africa (-26% at 78,000) and Asia (-30% at 14,000).

Luxury brand Maserati, which is reported as a separate division and not included in the geographical breakdown, saw shipments plummet 60% to 2,100.

Milan-listed shares of Stellantis were down 1.1% at €11.88 by 1104 local time.