On the occasion of the launch of the new Citroën C3, the Stellantis group announced the creation of a second team for the Brazilian plant in Porto Real in order to meet the demand generated by the marketing of the new Citroën.
Unfortunately, after only five months of operation, the group announced the closure of this second team in order to "adapt its production rate to the level of demand from the external market", according to Stellantis, which specifies that "the unit begins to concentrate the production of cars in a shift with increased capacity, with greater efficiency and agility to better respond to market demands".
Prior to the launch of the Citroën C3, the Porto Real plant only produced the Citroën C4 Cactus and the Peugeot 2008, both of which had modest sales in Brazil. The plant was therefore counting on the new Citroën C3 to increase its production, after having invested heavily in adapting its process to the CMP platform on which the C3 and the next cars in the C-Cubed range will be built.
Is this reduction in production due to the fact that the C3 is not selling well? It seems that there is a bit of that, as the latest addition to the brand, which was aiming for the top 3 in its segment when it was launched, is in the top 5 in terms of sales since the beginning of the year, with average monthly sales of 2,315 units, but which have fallen drastically since the beginning of the year to an average of 1,400 units in January-February, instead of the 3,000-3,500 units recorded at the end of 2022. The plant has also seen a slowdown in sales of the C4 Cactus, which is about to benefit from a restyling, and the Peugeot 2008, which is also about to be renewed. The imminent arrival of the C3 Aircross should also allow the plant to resume production, hopefully with the return of this second production team.
Comments