Leapmotor in 2024 in Europe
Stellantis will add a new brand to its large brand portfolio in Europe next year. This will be a budget brand that will sell electric cars from Leapmotor. Stellantis thus opens the attack on the relatively affordable electric car.
Stellantis’ portfolio is already bursting at the seams. Due to the merger between Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and Groupe PSA and the resulting Stellantis, the group consists of – don’t be alarmed – 16 brands. Hold on tight: Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Citroen, Dodge, DS Automobiles, Fiat, Fiat Professional, Jeep, Lancia, Maserati, Mopar, Opel, Peugeot, Ram and Vauxhall. A new brand will be added next year.
Stellantis will add a new budget brand to its brand base in Europe in 2024, with which it says it will focus entirely on relatively affordable electric cars. Stellantis will market electric cars from the Chinese Leapmotor in Europe. Automotive News reports this based on a conversation with Stellantis CFO Natalie Knight. According to Knight, Stellantis is targeting Leapmotor EVs at customers who are “cost-conscious, but still want the best technology.”
It was recently announced that Stellantis would enter into a close collaboration with the Chinese Leapmotor. It became clear at that time that Stellantis and Leapmotor would, among other things, set up a joint venture – just like Stellantis – to be established in the Netherlands. It is called Leapmotor International and Stellantis will manage 51 percent of the shares. This partnership should also make it possible to export Leapmotor products to countries outside China, as well as to produce them outside China. Given the name of the partnership, it is obvious that the Leapmotor brand name will also appear in Europe. The new Stellantis brand is therefore not entirely Stellantis’, because Leapmotor itself owns 49 percent of the shares.
By 2030, the partnership should sell around 500,000 cars annually outside China.
More affordable EVs
You can also expect a bunch of relatively affordable EVs from the other Stellantis brands in the coming years. With the Citroën ë-C3, Stellantis recently presented a relatively accessible electric car in terms of price and the basis of the ë-C3 is not reserved for that hatchback. The ë-C3 will have a crossover brother and we also know that Opel and Fiat will sell electric cars on the same platform as the ë-C3.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl