at the Stellantis factory in Poissy, a stalled industrial project

It is past noon this Friday in the vast parking lot of the Stellantis factory in Poissy. It's almost time for the team change in this immense complex which runs along the Seine. The workers, often already in overalls, converge on the porticos to take up their posts on the assembly lines.

Located in Yvelines, this site is the last to manufacture automobiles in Ile-de-France. Its water tower, well known to locals, overlooks the buildings. Rust has not yet overcome a large painted lion. This Peugeot emblem reminds us that we are treading on historic lands of the French automobile industry here. The factory, which was originally built by Ford in 1938, is bordered by railroad tracks. Endless trains run there, all carrying hundreds of Opel Mokkas, the main model produced on the site, on two floors.

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Within its long buildings, the majority of the 2,530 permanent employees have low morale. The site is running slowly, with only two teams since the night shift was eliminated just a year ago. Investments are reduced to a trickle. Above all, no new platform project is on the program, while production of the Opel Mokka is supposed to end in 2028.

The specter of a site closure, or a significant reduction in the workforce, haunts many employees, often elderly and with decades of seniority.

This is the case for Philippe. At 61 years old, 35 of which have been spent in the factory, this welder parts preparer is retiring next year. “The atmosphere? It's zerohe sweeps away. Same pessimism for Christophe, a 50-year-old mechanic. We live day by day, we don’t know what tomorrow will bring”he sighs. When we talk about the recent ousting of Carlos Tavares, the former boss of Stellantis, he gets annoyed. “I would like to be fired in the conditions he hadhe exclaims, referring to his golden parachute which could be worth tens of millions of euros. But we don't live in the same world. »

“Tomorrow, Poissy will perhaps have other functions”

With twenty-two years of seniority, Brice is resigned. “People know very well that it will close”he whispers. The 42-year-old employee deplores “increasingly reduced numbers” since the last elimination of 560 positions a year ago. This former forklift operator, on this occasion, had a very bad experience with a reassignment that did not suit him. “Last February, I was taken off my machine to put me on the chain because they had skimmed the temporary workers and professional contracts who worked therehe explains. From one day to the next, I found myself doing a job that I didn't know, and that I didn't want. » His bosses finally offered him to get his heavy goods vehicle license to join a new fleet of transporters. Brice jumped at the chance. With the idea that if the factory disappeared, he could easily find work in this field.

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Equally worried, union representatives are divided on the future of the site. One of the most in the media, Jean-Pierre Mercier, the SUD delegate, is categorical. For him, no doubt, Poissy “and farmer”. In his eyes, all the signals are red. The trade unionist mentions the drop in production rates last June. “We went from 38 to 30 vehicles assembled per hour”he laments.

Jean-Pierre Mercier also criticizes the phase of « restyling » of the Mokka. He judges her “very light”while this step, classic in the automobile, is essential to relaunch sales of a mid-life model. But there is also the project, “fell in the water”to bring the building dedicated to painting closer to the other facilities. Today it is far away “200 meters” buildings dedicated to shoeing and assembly.

Other unions do not share this pessimism. Responsible for Force Ouvrière of Poissy, Brahim Aït Athmane is not growing “not at all when the site closes”. He considers that if production were to stop, the factory could be transformed. “Tomorrow, Poissy will perhaps have other functions”he says. The trade unionist takes the case of the Renault factory in Flins as an example. Also located in Yvelines, the site stopped production last March and converted to the circular economy. “What matters is maintaining employment”insists Brahim Aït Athmane.

Production in free fall

The fact remains that today, it's a total blur. Asked about the future of Poissy after 2028, Stellantis did not comment. A source close to the manufacturer agrees that to date, “there is no industrial project”. At the same time, the reduction in production worries the workers, who fear that the factory will slowly die out.

Last November, the manufacturer only planned, according to our information, a production of 99,200 units for this year (nearly 30% less than previously anticipated), then 107,600 in 2026, and 100,300 in 2027 .

But management has just revised these figures downward. According to Jean-Pierre Mercier, the factory's HR director told the unions last Monday that production would not exceed 89,000 units this year, and would be around 90,000 in 2025. Investments are at a standstill. Stellantis only intends to spend 8.5 million euros over the next three years. It is “just to keep the walls from collapsing”fumes a union source.

At the last Paris Motor Show, last October, Carlos Tavares, the former boss of Stellantis whose reputation as cost killer no longer needs to be done, indicated to the Echoes that the fate of Poissy would be decided « fin 2025 ». Since his ouster, John Elkann, the manufacturer's president, has not given further details. Keen to improve his relations with the French government, he recently met Emmanuel Macron. According to the Presidency of the Republic, the leader “underlined its desire to continue to support the factories in which the group is established”. But John Elkann neither mentioned Poissy nor made a commitment to increase production in France, as he has just done in Italy.

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This situation of great uncertainty concerns the department. “We have always stood alongside the main factories in the Seine valley, Flins and Poissy, to help them win new vehicles to produce.writes Pierre Bédier, the president of the Yvelines departmental council. We must not hide our faces: these sites are threatened. Maintaining industrial activity is difficult, but it remains our ambition. » The Poissy town hall, however, does not want to comment on this subject. No question, in his eyes, of commenting “the rumors” on “the future of the factory”.

Stellantis will, whatever happens, always be present in the town. The automobile giant is currently building a “green campus”, scheduled to open early next year, not far from the factory. It will accommodate 8,200 employees from its tertiary activities and an R&D center. With this real estate complex “positive energy”Stellantis, wants to demonstrate its “social and environmental responsibility”. The factory workers only see it as confirmation that they are not, for the moment, the group's priority.