The Stellantis plant in Tychy has produced 500,000 B-segment SUVs, a milestone reached over three years. Yet the celebration is bittersweet: the factory has been operating at only half its capacity since June 2024, and the second production line remains idle.
The Tychy facility, which opened in 1975, once churned out 600,000 cars a year. In 2009, it set a record by producing nearly as many vehicles as all five Fiat plants in Italy combined. But that success became its undoing.
After the 2008–2009 financial crisis, Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne struck a deal with the Italian government: production of the next-generation Panda would move to Italy in exchange for state support. Marchionne himself warned the move was economically unsound, but politics prevailed. Tychy lost its volume leader, and the factory never fully recovered.
Half the plant working, half silent
Today, only one of Tychy’s two assembly lines is active. It produces Jeep Avenger, Fiat 600, and Alfa Romeo Junior on the same platform, with an estimated capacity of 300,000–400,000 vehicles per year on three shifts. However, due to market volatility, the third shift was eliminated in spring 2026.
The second line, once used for A-segment cars like the Fiat 500 and Panda family, stands empty. There was hope it would host production of the electric Leapmotor T03, but those plans have not materialized.
– We really appreciate the competences and commitment poured into each of the half a million anniversary vehicles. The Tychy plant is an important part of the Stellantis team behind the market success of these cars – said Christophe Montavone, Stellantis director of manufacturing for Europe.
A milestone with Italian flair
The 500,000th vehicle was an Alfa Romeo Junior Sport Speciale in Rosso Brera with a black roof and a 1.2 T3 145 HP Q4 mild hybrid drivetrain. Tychy became the first plant outside Italy to manufacture an Alfa Romeo model. The car’s engine was also built in Tychy, at the Stellantis powertrain plant, which recently celebrated five million engines produced since 1999.
The SUV production officially started in late January 2023, though the first Jeeps rolled off the line as early as November 2022. Fiat 600 joined in September 2023, and Alfa Romeo Junior in June 2024. All three share the same platform and are available with petrol, hybrid, and electric powertrains.
In 2025, the Tychy car plant celebrated its 50th anniversary, surpassing 11 million vehicles built. Stellantis ranked second in the B-SUV segment in the EU30 region and held second place overall with over 2.4 million registrations and a 16 percent market share.
The ghost of decisions past
The story of Tychy is a case study in how corporate and political choices can reshape a factory’s fate. The 2009 decision to move Panda production to Italy was a short-term political fix that cost Tychy its economies of scale. The plant went from being the group’s global hub for small cars to a facility running on half its potential.
Now, with one line dormant and shift reductions, the question is what Stellantis will do with the idle capacity. The factory is flexible and could adapt to new models, but no concrete plans have been announced. The shadow of underutilized resources lingers over an otherwise impressive achievement.
Źródło: wnp.pl, Fot. Materiały prasowe / Stellantis
