Italian Car Production Plummets: 42.8% Drop in Passenger Car Production in 2024
Milan, Italy
Prospects for Italy's automobile sector appear increasingly pessimistic
In the heart of Italy, Milan, the nation's automotive sector faced a monumental collapse in 2024, with no signs of recovery on the horizon for 2025. The production of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles at the six Italian Stellantis plants saw a staggering decline, totaling around 38% to 475,090 units. Without the support of light commercial vehicles, the situation would have been even more dismal. The production of passenger cars plummeted by a heart-wrenching 45% to 283,000 units. An alarming 20,000 employees found themselves on short-time work.
Behind the Wheel: Understanding the Crisis
Italy's automotive sector experienced a massive 42.8% decline in passenger car production in 2024, with overall vehicle output falling by 32.3% to 519,000 units[1]. Under the hood, there were several contributing factors behind this production crash:
- Plant underutilization. As factories like Cassino (Alfa Romeo Giulia/Stelvio) and Pomigliano d'Arco (Tonale) saw production plummet by 45.5% and 30% respectively in the early months of 2025[5], it's clear that ongoing operational cuts are taking their toll.
- Market contraction. Italy's passenger car sales dipped 1.6% YTD by March 2025[2], while EU-wide registrations dropped by 1.9% in Q1 2025[3], contributing to mounting inventory pressures.
- Electrification transition. The EU's aggressive push towards electric vehicles ( claiming a 15.2% share of the market in Q1 2025)[4] put significant strain on legacy ICE-focused production lines.
Steering Towards the Future
Although specific short-time work figures aren't publicly available, reports suggest the situation is grim.- Union warnings about production levels "not seen since 1956"[1] indicate mass layoffs or severe adjustments to the workforce.- Plant-specific collapses, such as Cassino's Q1 2025 output of 4,655 vehicles (-45.5% YoY)[5], point to the need for significant workforce reductions or reallocation.- Industry-wide contraction of 36.8%[1] suggests widespread use of temporary layoffs or reduced shifts to cope with excess capacity.
Without explicit employment data in the available sources, one must look to labor union reports or government workforce statistics to accurately gauge the extent of short-time work schemes. However, the magnitude of the production decline speaks volumes about the inevitable repercussions on the labor force across assembly lines.
- The decline in production of passenger cars in Milan, Italy, in 2024 was a disheartening 45%, resulting in a production of 283,000 units.
- In the automotive industry, the production of vehicles in Italy plummeted by 32.3% in 2024, totalling to 519,000 units.
- The drop in production of passenger cars in Milan contributed to the layoff or short-time work of around 20,000 employees in the automotive sector.
- The year 2025 holds more concerns for the Italian automotive sector, as production at the six Stellantis plants remains low, with no clear signs of recovery on the horizon.
- The overall contraction of the Italian automotive industry in 2024 was a significant 36.8%, indicating widespread use of temporary layoffs or reduced shifts to cope with excess capacity.
