Stellantis Production Stoppages In France Linked To Continental, Sources Say

Stellantis Production Stoppages In France Linked To Continental, Sources Say

PARIS (Reuters) -Production stoppages at two Stellantis auto plants in France stem from shortages in components from German supplier Continental, two sources close to Stellantis said on Friday.

Continental was unable to deliver its connected navigation and entertainment systems to a Citroen plant in Rennes, one of the sources said. The other said a Peugeot plant in Sochaux was halted because Continental had not delivered touch screens.

Continental declined to comment. Its shares opened flat on Friday morning.

French business paper La Tribune first reported the news on Friday morning.

A Stellantis spokesperson said the group would not comment on individual suppliers and reiterated that current stoppages at both plants were related to bottlenecks in semiconductor supply.

Stellantis said on Wednesday that both plants would be stopped until next week.

The group will also stop operations at its Melfi plant in southern Italy from late June 28 to July 2 due to a “structural” shortage of semiconductors.

The sources could not say at what point in the supply chain disruptions began, whether it was an issue with Continental’s production or because of another supplier’s problems.

(Reporting by Gilles Guillaume, Dominique Vidalon, additional reporting by Jan Schwartz; writing by Tassilo Hummel, editing by Jason Neely and Edmund Blair)