Stellantis Some Leapmotor Production to Move to Europe Due to EU Tariff

TapTechNews June 14, according to reports from The Associated Press and the Financial Times, Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares said on the 13th local time that due to the EU's newly announced tariff hike on Chinese electric cars, some of the production of Leapmotor will be transferred to local production in Europe.

Tavares said that the tariff level announced by the European Commission is higher than the level he previously thought that 'importing is more cost-effective than local production'.

'Facing the offensive of Chinese electric cars, our multi-energy platform strategy (pure electric, plug-in hybrid) will help enhance brand competitiveness. However, the policies of various EU member states in the field of electric cars are also very different, resulting in a large variation in the market share of this brand in different countries - for example, only 2% in the Italian market, 15% in France, and 40% in the Scandinavian Peninsula.

Despite this, Tavares said that Stellantis, as the world's fourth-largest carmaker, will strive to remain competitive rather than relying on tariff protection. He believes that the tariff planned by Brussels aims to 'correct' the problem of the lack of competitiveness of European carmakers compared to their Chinese competitors (correcting a lack of competitiveness).

According to previous reports by TapTechNews, Leapmotor and Stellantis established the Leapmotor International Joint Venture on May 14. Leapmotor International is a joint venture established by Stellantis Group and Leapmotor in a 51%:49% ratio and led by Stellantis Group, which has comprehensive in-house development capabilities.

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'The Leapmotor International Joint Venture was established today, joining forces with the giant Stellantis Group to advance into the European automotive market'