Saturday, November 9, 2024

Italian company Stellantis announces the end of production of the Maserati Levante

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Workers assembling Maserati Levantes at the Mirafiori factory (2016) [Photo by Stellantis]

Following three days of wildcat strikes and protests at Stellantis’ historic Mirafiori factory in Turin, Italy, last week, the multinational car company is pressing ahead with a campaign of job cuts. The company informed its employees that production of the Maserati Levante luxury SUV at the plant will end on March 31st.

Last week’s strike was prompted by Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares’ announcement that the company’s Mirafiori and Pomigliano d’Arco factories near Naples could be closed. The company has implemented “furlough layoffs” affecting 2,455 Mirafiori employees starting February 12th and ending on March 31st, which is likely to coincide with the end of Levante production.

Since 2016, the Mirafiori plant has been producing 25 Levante SUVs (starting price: USD 104,000) per day. The cancellation of this model means that Maserati will only be producing eight cars per day, limited to the Ghibli, Quattroporte, GranTurismo and GranCabrio models.

The company is also cutting production of its slow-selling Fiat 500 all-electric subcompact at its Mirafiori plant.

This would have a devastating impact on other auto parts and supplier companies, such as Turin’s Lear, which supplies seats to Maserati and is already subject to redundancy payments (Cassa Integrazione) at the end of 2023. Lear is on the verge of closure, with 420 jobs waiting.

Italian autoworkers, like their compatriots around the world, are targeted by the global restructuring of the auto industry. Job cuts and mass layoffs have accelerated in recent weeks, affecting thousands of jobs at U.S. Stellantis, Ford and GM plants. In both cases, it shows that the union bureaucracy is working together to carry out layoffs and respond to the needs of corporate interests.

Workers walk out of the Mirafiori factory on strike during the week of February 5th. [Photo: FIOM]

For years, workers on the Maserati line at the Mirafiori factory have been subject to layoffs. Stellantis’ predecessor, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), provided redundancy benefits to 1,400 employees in 2020. “We work 10 days every two months…Many of my colleagues want to work even in August to make up for the reduced salary,” said Maserati auto worker Giacomo. Zurianello said in a 2020 interview.

Stellantis is implementing a bold restructuring and cost reduction policy as it transitions to electric vehicles (EVs). Like his peers at other global automakers, but perhaps most revealingly, Stellantis CEO Tavares flies from country to country, offering billions of dollars in incentives to national and local governments. They demanded money and threatened to destroy jobs if the money was not given.



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