Stellantis getting help from dealers to deliver cars in Italy

MILAN (Reuters) – Stellantis (STLAM.MI) has reached a deal with Italian dealers to help the carmaker deliver vehicles at a time of prolonged logistical disruption in Europe, the group’s head for Italy Santo Ficili said on Monday.

Under the arrangement, struck six months ago, dealers directly pick up cars from factories, rather than have them delivered by Stellantis, which is struggling with a shortage of lorry drivers linked to the war in Ukraine.

The Stellantis manager said most of the drivers for car transporters are Ukrainian, adding that their shortage was affecting all carmakers in Europe.

“We asked dealers to give us a hand (…) we immediately found a deal,” Ficili said on the sidelines of an automotive conference in Milan. “Of course we’re paying them for their service, we agreed on fees”.

Italy was one of the first countries in Europe to find such a solution, and its agreement with dealers, covering almost 20% of Stellantis’ daily shipments for Italy, has been replicated in other countries, Ficili said.

He said the arrangement was due to end once logistics go back to normal, which he expected “fairly soon”.

Stellantis is also training its staff to become truck drivers to help ease the crunch, and has reached a deal with truckmaker Iveco (IVG.MI) and Italian trailer maker Rolfo to buy 100 car transporters, Ficili said.

However, no Stellantis employees have yet started as truck drivers as they have to complete their training, which lasts about four months, he said.