Stellantis, the parent company of Fiat, announced that production of the electric Fiat 500 model will be halted for four weeks due to a lack of orders in Europe. The slowdown in sales of electric vehicles globally, caused in part by varying green incentives policies, has led carmakers to adjust their EV plans. The fully electric Fiat 500 is produced at the Mirafiori factory in Italy, where the company is investing €100m to upgrade the facility and introduce a hybrid version of the model in the future.
While Italy has implemented a plan to encourage the adoption of cleaner vehicles, including subsidies for electric car purchases, disagreements between Rome and Stellantis over incentives have arisen. Additionally, tensions with China have escalated after the EU imposed tariffs on Chinese EV imports. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has called for a reconsideration of tariffs, emphasizing the need to avoid a trade war with China.
China is a major producer of electric cars, with rapidly increasing sales in the country. Electric vehicle sales in China rose from 1.3m to 6.8m between 2021 and 2022, comprising over a third of global EV sales in the latter year. Sánchez’s comments reflect concerns over potential trade disputes and the importance of finding a compromise between the EU and China to prevent further conflicts in the electric vehicle market.
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