Stellantis looks to own workers to combat truck-driver shortage

Stellantis NV is turning to its own ranks to resolve a shortage of truck drivers that’s leaving thousands of vehicles stranded away from dealerships and customers.  

The maker of Fiat and Peugeot cars has sent off emails and put up posters in some of its factories to convince workers to fill in behind the wheel. Around 100 people in Europe have already signed up, a company spokesman said Thursday.

Stellantis is paying for training and the fees to obtain a truck-driver’s license to facilitate the voluntary job switch. The company also is considering buying its own trucks to get on top of the logistics snags, though no final decision has been made, another spokesperson said.

Truck driver shortages left thousands of cars stuck at Stellantis’s Sochaux plant in eastern France late last year, forcing the company to park many of them on an abandoned airfield several kilometers away from the factory. Volkswagen AG has been hit by similar problems, leaving Europe’s biggest carmaker unable to get finished vehicles to buyers. 

Many of Europe’s truck drivers come from Ukraine and have become unavailable since the start of the war, deepening logistics troubles that started with the Covid-19 pandemic and continued with semiconductor shortages that slowed production.

The job switch can be temporary or permanent, the spokesman said, adding that workers who may eventually want to return to their factory jobs will be reintegrated.

Stellantis also struggled with logistics as it sought to combine operations following its merger of Fiat Chrysler and PSA Group at a time of significant stress in global logistics operations, Chief Financial Officer Richard Palmer said last month.

The company is testing other creative ways to get cars to its customers. Dealers, for example, are allowed to come and pick up the vehicles themselves.