Stellantis Cost-Cutting Plan Includes Reducing The Number Of Toilets

Earlier this year, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and PSA Group finalized their merger, creating Stellantis. The two joined forces in an effort to cut costs while also creating the world’s fourth-largest automaker. The new conglomerate has promised not to cut jobs or close plants, but those savings have to come from somewhere, and Stellantis is looking everywhere, including the toilets.

Reuters is reporting that in Italy, Stellantis is cutting cleaning services and the number of toilets available at some of its factories. At the company’s Mirafiori factory in Turin, Italy, where the new Fiat 500 is being produced, Stellantis has reduced the number of available toilets and cut cleaning services, FMI union member Davide Provenzano told the publication. The company has also reduced temperatures and reorganized transport facilities. Provenzano voiced concerns about such cost-cutting measures during the coronavirus pandemic.

Similar cutbacks have happened at the company’s Atessa plant, where the UILM union noted there’d been a 35-percent cut in cleaning services, though that excluded services for disinfecting against the coronavirus. The number of toilets there were left unchanged, though the company is operating at near full capacity. FOIM union member Edi Lazzi told Reuters that he believed the cost-cutting measures were coming from local management.

The merger has given Stellantis a monumental task managing more than a dozen brands, some of which now overlap each other in some markets. The merger has already seen the company cancel plans to return Peugeot back to US shores, which began in 2017. Instead, the company will focus on revitalizing the Alfa Romeo brand in the US. Chrysler will also get renewed focus. Other changes have seen Stellantis disband the SRT team, though there will be future SRT models.

Stellantis has been vocal about giving every brand a chance to succeed, including Alfa Romeo and Lancia, which the company says will have “greater opportunities” in the new organization. Alfa, Lancia, and DS are already developing new vehicles that will launch in 2024, which will offer exclusive powertrains and technologies.