# Stellantis halts Argentine car plants as sales and exports fall, and analysts expect trade with Lula's Brazil to stay restricted

The El Palomar plant stops from Monday until the end of the month, and pickup production in Córdoba pauses from December to mid-January.

- Published: 2026-10-26T05:15:30.644Z
- Canonical: https://polylog.news/2026-10-26/stellantis-halts-argentine-car-plants-as-sales-and-exports-f
- Publisher: Polylog (Global desk)
- Section: world
- Sources: [Clarín (Economía)](https://www.clarin.com/economia/fabricas-fiat-peugeot-terminan-ano-vacaciones-adelantadas-suspensiones_0_wN54aXk702.html), [Clarín (Economía) Brazil analysis](https://www.clarin.com/economia/elecciones-brasil-triunfo-lula-anticipa-clima-negocios-comercio-limitado-argentina_0_JABsHsSY6v.html)

Stellantis's plant in El Palomar, outside Buenos Aires, [suspends activity from Monday until the end of the month](https://www.clarin.com/economia/fabricas-fiat-peugeot-terminan-ano-vacaciones-adelantadas-suspensiones_0_wN54aXk702.html) and will then move up workers' scheduled vacations, Clarín reported. In Córdoba, production of the Fiat Titano and RAM Dakota pickups will stop from December until mid-January. The company cited falling sales and exports. Earlier this year Stellantis [cut more than 30% of planned output at Córdoba](https://www.iprofesional.com/autos/462714-fiat-y-ram-reducen-produccion-de-las-camionetas-titano-y-dakota) and removed a shift at El Palomar.

Brazil is the main export market for Argentine cars, and Sunday's election does not change that outlook, according to specialists interviewed by [Clarín](https://www.clarin.com/economia/elecciones-brasil-triunfo-lula-anticipa-clima-negocios-comercio-limitado-argentina_0_JABsHsSY6v.html). They expect a more limited business and trade climate for Argentina under Lula's new term, with continued bureaucratic barriers to Argentine goods entering Brazil. They said Lula will need to take a more conciliatory position, and they advised Argentine exporters to watch Brazilian economic activity closely, because it will drive demand for their products. Relations between Lula and Argentine President Javier Milei have been openly hostile.

## What this means

Argentine manufacturers depend on Brazilian demand, and two channels now work against them. First, a weaker real after Lula's win makes Argentine cars more expensive in Brazil. Second, political hostility between the two governments keeps non-tariff barriers in place. The exposed actors are Argentine auto and component makers, their unions, and the provincial economies of Córdoba and Buenos Aires. Milei's stabilization program lets uncompetitive industry shrink rather than subsidizing it. That is consistent with Austrian prescriptions, but it raises the political cost of each plant closure before Argentina's next elections. The consensus treats the stoppages as seasonal. The evidence of repeated cuts through 2026 points instead to a structural loss of the Brazilian market. The likelier outcome over the coming months is further production cuts and job losses in Argentine autos. A sharp fall in the real would make the cuts worse, and a Brazil-Argentina trade agreement that removes barriers would prove this read wrong.

## What to watch

- The real's exchange rate against the Argentine peso in the coming weeks. A large depreciation of the real would make Argentine exports to Brazil less competitive.
- Any meeting or call between Lula and Milei after the election. A thaw would be the first sign the trade barriers could ease.
- Monthly Argentine auto production and export data from the carmakers' association ADEFA. Continued declines would confirm that the losses are structural rather than seasonal.