Further Stellantis brands to go fully electric
At the presentation of its business figures for the first half of the year, Stellantis gave new details on its electrification strategy. Accordingly, DS Automobiles will only launch pure BEVs on the market from 2024. Alfa Romeo is to become an all-electric car brand from 2027.
In early July, Stellantis had presented its electric strategy, announcing that Opel will become an electric brand in Europe from 2028. Fiat is set to become all-electric between 2025 and 2030 – as soon as electric cars can be sold at the price of combustion cars, it said in July.
At the strategy presentation, however, the multi-brand group only went into a few examples – in addition to Opel and Fiat, the electrification plans of the US brands Dodge, RAM and Jeep were presented in more detail. For brands like Lancia or Alfa-Romeo, only claims like “From 2024, Alfa Becomes Alfa e-Romeo” were shown in the presentation.
So what had already been hinted at there has now been confirmed. From 2024 onwards, Lancia will only offer electrified models (i.e. also hybrids), but from 2026 onwards, new Lancia models are to be launched exclusively with pure electric drive. The presentation of the half-year figures does not indicate when exactly the conversion to pure e-drives will be completed at the Italian brand.
The situation is similar at DS Automobiles: The French brand will install only electric drives in model changes as early as 2024. But here, too, no date is given as to when the last combustion engine or hybrid will be sold.
Alfa Romeo is a little more concrete: the conversion to 100 per cent BEVs in Europe, North America and China is to be completed by 2027. At present, Alfa Romeo does not have a single BEV in its range. The model portfolio currently comprises only two series, the Giulia sedan and the Stelvio SUV. In the course of the merger, ex-Peugeot boss Jean-Philippe Imparato was appointed as the new brand boss.
Alfa Romeo is – once again – to be built up as the group’s premium brand. As reported by the German publication Auto, Motor und Sport, the smaller PHEV SUV Tonale is to be launched in 2022, followed by an even smaller SUV with HEV, PHEV and electric drive, called Brennero. This model is to be built in Poland from 2023 onwards on the basis of the familiar e-CMP – so probably with the familiar 100 kW drive and 50 kWh battery. Accordingly, Alfa did not want to wait for the launch of the new STLA Small platform in 2026.
The STLA Small is one of four platforms that Stellantis had presented with its electric strategy. The STLA Large for larger vehicles will be launched as early as 2023/2024 and, according to the “AMS”, will form the basis for the new edition of the Giulia and the Stelvio. According to information from the British magazine “Autocar”, the Giulia saloon could be joined by a sportier, four-door coupé – possibly with the legendary model designation GTV. Imparato has already indicated its preference for retro models – but the market for a two-door sports coupé GTV (or even an Alfa Spider convertible) is probably too small.
In total, the Stellantis brands plan to launch eleven BEV and ten PHEV models by 2023. Citroen plans a total of three BEVs by H1 2023, Fiat Professional plans two new BEVs in 2022, and the first all-electric Jeep (possibly the Wagoneer announced at the strategy presentation) is due in H1 2023. Maserati plans to have two BEVs on offer by then. Opel and Peugeot are each planning another electric car this year, and the French another for 2023.
On the financials: In the first half of its existence, the merged Stellantis group came to a turnover of 75.3 billion euros (+46 per cent), with an operating profit of 8.6 billion euros – giving an operating margin of 11.4 per cent.
With reporting by Sebastian Schaal, Germany.
0 Comments