Stellantis' third-quarter shipments rise 13%, led by North America

MILAN (Reuters) -Stellantis said on Friday its global vehicle shipments rose 13% year-on-year in the third quarter, led by new models and North American demand, in a sign of business recovery after several quarters of declining sales. The French-Italian-American automaker estimated it shipped a total of 1.3 million vehicles in the July-September period. Final data on third-quarter shipments and revenues are due to be released on October 30. Stellantis' brands include Jeep, Peugeot, Fiat, Opel and Ram. North American shipments surged 35% to 403,000 vehicles, partly driven by the launch of the V8-powered Ram 1500 and a normalisation of inventory levels following last year's production cuts, the company said in a statement. This performance suggests that Stellantis, which since June has been led by new CEO Antonio Filosa, might be regaining momentum, and in particular in one of its most critical markets, after grappling with factors including excess inventories and model transitions that weighed on volumes in previous quarters. In Europe, shipments rose 8% year-on-year to 534,000 vehicles, supported by the ramp-up of four new compact models – the Citroen C3, Citroen C3 Aircross, Opel Frontera and Fiat Grande Panda – which were not in production during the same period last year. However, gains were partially offset by weaker demand for light commercial vehicles and lower volumes in some key European countries, Stellantis added. Elsewhere, shipments fell 3% in South America to 252,000 vehicles. Stellantis said this was due to a high figure in the same period of last year, when the company recovered delayed shipments following a flooding in Rio Grande do Sul. (Reporting by Philippe Leroy Beaulieu in Gdansk and Giulio Piovaccari in Milan. Editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak and Mark POtter)

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