ZAP // Leapmotor; Stellantis
European car manufacturer Stellantis and Chinese company Leapmotor plan to start joint car production in Europe. Two models will be manufactured in Spain, deepening their partnership beyond distribution and extending it to production, the French-Italian manufacturer announced Friday.
The initiative comes before the presentation of the new business plan on May 21, when the CEO Antonio Filosa seeks to recover market share in North America and Europe and reverse the direction of operations.
The agreement, which could be the first of many among car manufacturers Europeans and Chineseaims to strengthen European production, especially of electric vehicles, says the agency.
The partnership now announced will allow take advantage of the capacity to be used in Stellantis factories and, at the same time, will provide a fast track to produce in the region.
The agreement will also allow reinforce Stellantis’ range of electric vehiclesafter having reduced internal development at the beginning of this year and recorded charges of more than 22 billion euros in the development of these vehicles.
“This plan should support production and promote the location in Europe of world-class production of affordable electric vehicles“, Filosa said in a statement, adding that Stellantis wants to “deepen the partnership and take another step towards even broader collaborations in the future“.
Companies are also considering producing new Leapmotor models at the Stellantis factory in Madrid from 2028, and the transfer of its ownership to Leapmotor International (LPMI), joint venture of the Chinese brand with the French-Italian manufacturer, which holds 51%.
LPMI is a joint venture of an essentially commercial nature, through which Leapmotor sells its electric vehicles outside China.
Stellantis, which owns brands such as Peugeot, Opel, Citroen, Fiat, JeepChrysler, Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Lancia e Dodge, acquired a 21% stake at Leapmotor in 2023.
Leap motor
LPMI, joint-venture da Stellantis com a Leapmotor
Regarding electric vehicles, the two companies’ plan will help Leapmotor to bypass European Union customs tariffs about EVs made in China. Among Chinese builders, Xpeng e a GAC they already produce cars at a Magna factory in Austria.
Under the new plan, the two companies will manufacture the SUV B10 from Leapmotor and a new electric C-SUV jointly developed under the Opel brandat the Stellantis factory in Zaragoza, Spain.
In a separate statement, Opel said the new model, to be developed in less than two years, will be the “first product resulting from the expanded partnership predicted”.
The president of Opel, Florian Huettldeclared on LinkedIn that the automobile will combine the core components of the electrical architectureae of Leapmotor’s battery technology with Opel’s chassis design and engineering.
Stellantis and Leapmotor will still cooperate in the acquisition of components through LPMI, in order to take advantage of synergies of scale and Chinese know-how in electric vehicles.
“The objective would be to strengthen price competitivenessleveraging the Chinese new energy vehicle ecosystem, while drawing on European supply chain capabilities to reinforce resilience and accelerate time to market for new models“, stated Stellantis.
