CAR workers in Italy are to strike on October 18 in protest at declining output at Stellantis, the country’s the biggest vehicle manufacturer.

Tuesday’s announcement by the main metalworkers’ unions also said that there would be a national demonstration in Rome on the same day.

Stellantis, created in 2021 from the merger of Fiat-Chrysler with PSA Peugeot, registered a sharp drop in output at most of its Italian plants in the first half of this year, according to data from the FIM-CISL union.

Just over half-a-million vehicles are expected to be produced by Stellantis in Italy in 2024, down from 751,000 last year, the union said.

Over the past 17 years, the struggling carmaker has slashed its Italian production by nearly 70 per cent.

Stellantis, whose brands include Jeep and Ram, has been in talks for months with Italy’s far-right government over plans to increase output, but no agreement has been reached so far.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, Stellantis said: “We are confident that close collaboration with trade unions and the Italian government will allow us to find effective and sustainable solutions for our common future, transforming this crisis into an opportunity.”