Stellantis will go “full throttle” on battery-electric vehicles to meet emissions goals in Europe and the U.S., as hybrid powertrains eventually “disappear,” CEO Carlos Tavares said.
Tavares has not yet committed Stellantis, which has 14 brands and home bases in France, Italy, Germany and the U.S., to a date when it will sell only zero emission vehicles but, he said, “The societies in which we operate will trend toward a ban on internal combustion engines.”
Automakers are racing to develop electric vehicles to meet tighter CO2 emissions targets in Europe, and this week Volvo joined a growing number of automakers including Ford of Europe, Jaguar and Bentley aiming for a fully-electric line-up in the near future.
“We are going full throttle on battery electric vehicles, as we believe the mix of sales within electrified vehicles will move very fast to pure BEVs,” he said this week at a financial results conference for the two automakers that combined to form Stellantis, PSA Group and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.
“We aren’t thinking we’ll still have mild hybrids or plug-in hybrids,” he said, because of bans on selling internal combustion engines, already announced in countries such as the UK.
A presentation he showed said that Stellantis, which started operations in January, would be emissions-compliant from “Day 1” and had a “road map” to meeting targets through 2025.
Stellantis, whose brands include Opel, Jeep, Ram and Maserati, plans to have full-electric or hybrid versions of all of its vehicles available in Europe, as well as light-duty vehicles in the U.S. by 2025, broadly in line with plans at rivals such as Volkswagen and Renault-Nissan, although Stellantis has further to go to meet that goal.
Tavares said Stellantis will launch 10 additional “high voltage” vehicles (full-electric and plug-in hybrid) this year, including full-electric variants of light-commercial vans.
In contrast to mass-market competitors such as Toyota and Renault that have substantial full-hybrid offerings, PSA has focused on plug-in hybrids and full-electric vehicles; FCA has just begun offering Jeep plug-in hybrids and has just one new EV, the Fiat New 500.
Morgan Stanley analyst Harald Hendrikse said Stellantis’ electrified vehicle portfolio is a little-known strength, citing two dedicated EV platforms, supply chain arrangements in electric motors, transmissions and battery cells, and its model lineup in Europe.
“Few other OEMs have all of this in place, in 180 degree contrast to some investors’ views,” he wrote in a report.
