By George Guimarães | 2/23/23 | Translated by Jorge Meditsch
The internal vehicle market has not stimulated the manufacturers in the last few months. In January, sales grew only 12% over the same month in 2022, when some plants were paralyzed due to component shortages.
Anfavea, the association of light and heavy vehicle manufacturers, projects for 2023 a growth of no more than 3% in internal sales and a fall of the same magnitude in exports.
This short-term scenario should have influenced Stellantis, the country’s largest manufacturer with one-third of vehicle sales, to confirm this Thursday, 2/23, the decision to close the second production shift at its plant in Porto Real, RJ, on March 6.
The unit, which produces the Peugeot 2008, Citroën Cactus and the just-launched Citroën C3, has been operating in two shifts since mid-second semester last year, especially after the arrival of the newest model, after working for two years and a half with just one shift.
To do so, 340 temporary workers were hired – 20% of the job force at the time. They will not have their contracts renewed now, despite the manufacturer’s assurance that the engine production will remain with two work shifts.
The New C3 uses the CMP platform, which was introduced at the Porto Real, RJ plant, costing R$ 220 million. According to Stellantis, the compact model has a nationalization index of over 70%.
The manufacturer issued an official note justifying the decision as a consequence of a potential export reduction:
“Stellantis adapted the industrial planning of the Porto Real to suit its production pace to the external market’s demand. The unit will concentrate automobile production in a single expanded capacity shift with more efficiency and agility to suit the market demands better. Due to this adjustment, it was needed to anticipate the end of temporary contracts with determined duration, most of them hired to meet the immediate needs to increase production”.
On the same note, Stellantis qualified as “fake news” a note that is circulating on WhatsApp saying the Porto Real plant will be closed and the production transferred to Betim. MG.
“This information is not true. It’s clearly fake news. The Porto Real plant is important and strategic for the company, producing Peugeot and Citroën models and their engines. The plant will continue contributing for the company to keep leading the Brazilian, Argentinian, Chilean and South American markets.”
The manufacturer also said that, already in March, Porto Real “will have the production lines adjusted and ready to receive new models it will produce in the future”.
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