Stellantis hopes to benefit from a five-year partnership with China’s Leapmotor.
Next September Stellantis Group will begin selling its new brand. This is not just another name for an ecosystem that has more than 14 names. This is an agreement with the Chinese company Leapmotor, which the president of the European group called the key to the future thanks to the knowledge accumulated by the Asian giant’s manufacturers.
Carlos Tavares, the head of Stellantis, traveled to China to approve an association agreement with Leapmotor, which involves buying part of the Chinese brand and launching a joint venture to promote its models outside the Asian market.
This indicated that This is a great opportunity in Stellantis aiming for profitable growth in China. At the same time, the manufacturer is preparing to open the doors of Europe to a Chinese startup in order to better position itself in the electric vehicle sector.
According to Tavares: “In any case, they would have been there, with or without us. It will therefore be better if we take advantage of this competitiveness by creating a joint venture in which we own 51%, and this will allow us to consider the next step. Thanks to this agreement, we will easily win five years, in particular for the benefit of Peugeot, Citroën and even Fiat.“.
Two partners They will deliver their first electric vehicles to the European market in September. in an agreement whereby the Stellantis group becomes a Trojan horse for Leapmotor. “Here we have a win-win situation. Leapmotor will benefit from our industrial presence if a certain number of customs barriers need to be circumvented.“, explains Carlos Tavares.
China’s electric vehicle factories are too big for their domestic market. Carlos Tavares, in turn, I want to look at battery production, the heart of the electric vehicle price war. Electronic components are cheaper in China thanks to armies of engineers whose primary goal is to cut costs.
Their method: simplify cars as much as possible: a Chinese electric car has a third fewer parts than a European one. “Last year, 9 million electric vehicles were produced here in China, our industry is developing at a rapid pace, resulting in huge cost savings and an advantage over cars produced overseas. explains Zhu Jiangming, founder and CEO of Leapmotor.
The initial offering will consist of two models: the small T03 with a range of 265 kilometers and the more classic C10 SUV. Two sedans and two SUVs should appear in the coming years.