So it will be called Stellantis, that fusion group of PSA Fiat / Chrysler. Brand another new box under one roof. Then it must make sense, I say with due respect for big business. Those big boys will surely know what they are doing. They know VW law; volume is strength.
Still, I am following this clumping process with great concern. I also have a gut feeling, I know the market. This is a must. The plague with musts is; they rarely bloom on big promises. This move is two things. One: another capitulation to the platform strategy’s economic terror. Two: a further undermining of the brand image due to the advance of the electric car.
I’ve called the EV the great equalizer. The reason is that I have driven almost all electric cars on the market. Annoyingly, not for the consumer but for the builders, they all drive the same. With that I do not erase the crucial distinction between a Zoe and Taycan, but the level of tranquility and driving comfort that has now been achieved is from bread and butter brand to Porsche uniformly chilling. There is still work to be done in terms of range and charging speed, and it is great if alliance partners can solve this more strongly together. Only others do that too, so within the foreseeable future we will all charge with 200 kWh battery packs that will drive every whipped-out city flea 500 kilometers. And then as a brand you can only score points on design. But that is actually already the case.
Look at that. Surely it would not be pointless if a large group would soon offer four different models à la Volkswagen on the same platform? Consumers can choose their favorite carriage themselves. True. The question is whether it is enough to sustain the business case. I tend to no because design only really comes to life in combination with physical properties such as sound and a hierarchical model that makes it attractive for consumers to look up the model ladder. There too the shoe pinches more painfully every day.
The electric Opel Corsa of just over thirty grand drives exactly the same as its Peugeot and DS sisters – although DS may still add some suspension comfort to its E-Tense. The Opel is not a Taycan, but it takes you from A to B just as silently as a two times more expensive Model 3 or a one-ton Audi E-tron. It is thick in the premium equipment with steering wheel heating and a touchscreen. Buying a Taycan didn’t make much sense in a hundred kilometer world anyway. In other words, the appeal of promotion to a higher car class for more silence, more pace or more luxury has almost completely disappeared.
In this transition stage from ICE to EV, a motoring journalist is the canary in the coal mine. With my EV experience I dare to predict how the consumer of tomorrow will be in the race. Its bond with one brand of choice decreases further. Thanks to Stellantis and VW, he cares less and less what he buys. He knows what I already know; anything goes. I have not tested the Honda EV yet, because the PR guy there does not answer the phone. But actually I have already ridden it. Because I’m sure: it drives fine. I know its genre, know exactly what it does to your driving experience. That totally neutralizes. I have no Volvo feel in a Polestar, no Mercedes feel in an EQC, no Jaguar feel in an i-Pace. Ultimately, electricity kills any attempt at identity formation.
And then it just doesn’t make sense to be a brand anymore. The Stellantis merger is almost proof. Undoubtedly, the PR officers of the Stellantis store daughters will continue to sing with ever more frenetic tenacity the Unique DNA of their unified Opel, DS and Fiat portfolios. I feel sorry for them. The real world knows: those brands are already doomed as bearers of unique properties. This merger follows the path of a fate that the industry can no longer avoid with further electrification. Stellantis becomes Atlantis, a sunken realm.