Stellantis finds itself suffering from a problem most automakers would kill for: too many customers. The catch? It doesn’t have enough batteries to power their dreams. Due to a critical shortage of long-range battery packs, the automotive giant is temporarily halting production across two major French assembly plants.
The stoppage impacts Sochaux, home to the popular Peugeot 3008 and 5008 SUVs, starting October 23, 2026, while the Rennes plant, responsible for the Citroën C5 Aircross, hits pause a day earlier on October 22. Both facilities will remain quiet until at least October 30.
The bottleneck centers squarely on Automotive Cells Company (ACC), a joint venture backed by Stellantis, Mercedes, and TotalEnergies. Tasked with supplying high-capacity packs from its gigafactory in Billy-Berclau/Douvrin, Northern France, ACC is struggling to keep up with surging demand, particularly from corporate fleets eager for high-mileage EVs.
Rather than churning out lower-spec models and letting unsold inventory gather dust on dealer lots, Stellantis management chose the logical route: simply pull the emergency brake until power supplies catch up.
Ramping up gigafactory output has proven to be an uphill battle. ACC went so far as to fly in technical specialists from China to optimize operations and curb scrap rates. While Stellantis acknowledges visible progress, delivery volumes still fall frustratingly short of target figures.
Ironically, amidst the production pause, ACC announced at the 2026 Paris Motor Show that it had hit the five-million-cell milestone in France, enough energy for nearly 40,000 vehicles. It seems the factory is officially running, just not quite fast enough for buyers waiting in line.
To make sure its future isn’t permanently held hostage by a single supply line, Stellantis is hedging its bets elsewhere. The group has teamed up with CATL on a massive $4.4 billion lithium-iron-phosphate battery facility planned for Zaragoza, Spain. With an announced potential capacity of up to 50 GWh per year, pending public subsidies and market momentum, Stellantis hopes to build a multi-tiered supply chain capable of powering everything from budget commuter EVs to long-haul crossovers.