Stellantisand before FCAhas always quarreled with the market for electric cars, defining it on several occasions unsustainable for producers and consumers. Now, the current CEO of the Stellantis group Carlos Tavares stated that he would be happy to be able to quietly sell battery-powered vehiclesbut the cost of production it’s still a big deal.
Stellantis, created a year ago by merger of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and the PSA Groupposted strong gains for 2021, in part due to incentives that allowed the sale of the company’s electric vehiclesand this despite having produced only 6 million vehicles despite a capacity of 8 million.
According to Tavares, building an electric vehicle costs 40 to 50% more than a vehicle with an internal combustion engine. According to the manager, this cost cannot be completely absorbed by the car manufacturer, nor can it be passed on to consumers, therefore the only way is to reduce internal costs and negotiate with suppliers who manage 85% of the vehicle component chain.
At the moment, Stellantis sells 34 electrified vehiclesof which 19 are battery electric vehicles (BEV) and the other 15 are plug-in hybrids. Despite the difficulties mentioned above, the company plans to produce many more, with the forecast of fully electrify all 14 brands of the group. For example, Alfa Romeo recently introduced its first electrified model with the Tonale plug-in hybrid, and plans to go fully electric by 2027.
