According to reports, Eric Laforge, head of Stellantis's European light commercial vehicle division, said the company had stopped production at its Russian truck plant because of a shortage of parts.
Stellantis operates a truck factory with Mitsubishi in Kaluga, 180km southwest of Mexico, producing medium vans for brands such as Citroen, Opel and Peugeot.
In fact, as early as the end of March, Carlos Tavares, chief executive of Stellantis, said that his Kalu processing plant might have to stop production in the future because of reduced supply of parts. On April 14th, Laforge revealed that the plant had ceased operation.
Since the escalation of the situation in Russia and Ukraine, many carmakers, including Ford, BMW, Renault and Volkswagen, have suspended operations in Russia, and Volkswagen has stopped production at its Kaluga plant. In February, Stellantis also announced a moratorium on imports and exports to Russia.
New car sales in Russia fell 63% in March, the ninth consecutive month of decline in car sales in the country.
Stellantis's exposure to the Russian market is relatively small. Last year, its Kalu processing plant produced about 11000 vehicles. Laforge said Stellantis would increase production of trucks at its Hordain plant in northern France to replace trucks planned to be exported from Kaluga after the Kalu plant was shut down. The Hordain plant produces Citroen Jumpy, Fiat Scudo, Opel / Vauxhall Vivaro, Peugeot Expert and Toyota Proace.
