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Unpopular Opinion: Stellantis Is Not A “Domestic” Brand

_{Yet they were the first of the “Big 3” to turn a profit on EVs.}

Stellantis is still lumped in as one of the “Big 3” or as a “Domestic” manufacturer. They have done a great job maintaining a perception of being an American company, but that is simply no longer true. And your average Jeep-Chrysler-Dodge-Ram (JCDR) dealership is probably none the wiser.

Stellantis is headquartered in Amsterdam (that kinda tells the whole story). wikipedia.org

Most decisions appear to come from France and/or Italy. Both countries' governments would like more clarity on whether they are a French or Italian company (maybe those governments should look at that Stellantis Wikipedia page). reuters.com

Recent leadership changes in the Americas highlight a desire for tighter alignment between the EU headquarters and the legacy home of the company. It is fair to point out that “North America represents a significant piece of Stellantis' global profits.” freep.com

Italy recently considered investing directly in the company but ultimately decided no. reuters.com

At the same time, Europe isn’t sure that Stellantis is European either. “Stellantis, created by the combination of France's Peugeot maker Peugeot PSA, Italy's Fiat and Detroit's Chrysler, accounts for virtually all of Italy's car production. Fiat output has been falling as European sales have stagnated, and Stellantis has shifted production to other countries in its sprawling global network.” — Most EV production gets routed to France. reuters.com

But all that didn’t prevent China from shipping kits to Russia to build Stellantis model Citroёn C5s without their knowledge. reuters.com

While Ford and GM have blamed customer demand on EV sales slowness, Stellantis is conspicuously quiet about that. They have a plan. A plan they wrote after the merger happened in 2021. And they plan to stick with the plan. Which calls for them to reach 100% of BEV sales in the EU and 50% of BEV sales in North America by 2030. stellantis.com

After realizing they may have more to deal with than expected, Jim and Mary (Ford and GM) might find ways to work together. reuters.com

Meanwhile, Stellantis built three different EV platforms (STLA Small, Medium and Large) to accommodate all sizes of their vehicle production. Check out this video about the STLA Large platform. youtube.com

They were slow to sign on to the Tesla-built North American Charging standard. And they haven’t confirmed if they will sign a deal with Tesla for the super-charging network. In the interim, they are “all in” on the Ionna network (more on Ionna below in the Energy section). cnet.com

Within 24 months, they will have more EV nameplates for sale in North America than Ford and GM combined. Starting with the Fiat 500e and the Wagoneer S EV, followed by the Dodge Charger EV, the Ram Rev (formerly Ram Revolution), the Alfa Romeo Giulia EV, and a yet-to-be-named compact Jeep SUV. Just this week, Stellantis revealed a fancy new Chrysler concept car, the “Halcyon.” detroitnews.com, caranddriver.com, cleantechnica.com, hotcars.com, cnbc.com 

Despite the complexities of the post-COVID world, the difficulties related to transitioning to new energy vehicles and the threat of labour action from the UAW, Stellantis delivered record results in 2023 and is likely better positioned for future mergers and partnerships to fend off the threat of cheap Chineses vehicles than their previous American OEM contemporaries. finance.yahoo.com, reuters.com

Unlike Ford and GM, Stellantis turned a profit on EVs. cnn.com

They must succeed on the EV front because their CEO is sick of paying Tesla for regulatory credits (see Musk News section below). autonews.com

The New Face Of Road Rage

An angry mob attacked a helpless Waymo car in San Francisco and set it on fire. Thankfully, there was no one in the vehicle at the time. theverge.com

Note to self: skateboards aren’t hugely effective at breaking into cars, but they do a reasonable amount of damage. twitter.com

A video posted by the FriscoLive415 YouTube channel shows the burnt-out husk of the electric Waymo Jaguar. youtube.com

Air Taxis Are Real

Joby signed an agreement with Dubai’s Road and Transport Authority, giving the startup exclusivity to run its electric air tax services for six years. theverge.com

Last November, Joby also tested their electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft around New York City. “Traveling from Manhattan to John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) can take more than an hour by car, Joby expects the trip to take just seven minutes by air.” jobyaviation.com

Scout Makes A Comeback

Volkswagen’s new Scout division broke ground on their future factory in South Carolina. forbes.com

“Scout will get a little help along the way. Last year, the company struck a deal with Austria’s Magna Steyr to help develop the new lineup of EVs. VW placed an order with Magna Steyr, an off-road specialist that builds the G-Class for Mercedes-Benz in Graz, Austria.” theverge.com

Scout joined the VW family as part of their acquisition of International Trucking/Harvester in 2020. caranddriver.com

Although it was recently reported that VW’s truck ambitions for North America are dead, their push to build this new square-bottomed EV SUV keeps them in the truck and off-road game. motortrend.com

China’s Automotive Expansion

BYD announced plans to manufacture the new Atto 2 subcompact SUV in China and across Europe and sell it for under $40K USD. cleantechnica.com

BYD also plans to import the Seagull EV, their cheapest EV, into South America. electrek.co

CATL, BYD and NIO join forces to develop solid-state batteries. electrek.co

BorgWarner announced a strategic agreement with FinDreams Battery, a subsidiary of BYD, to manufacture lithium iron phosphate battery packs for commercial vehicles — which might make Chinese batteries available to Stellantis, GM and Ford. carnewschina.com

Geely/Zeekr plans to sell their EVs in Mexico. autonews.com

Kia intends to double shipments to China. autonews.com

Getting your hands on a fancy, otherwise “unavailable in your country,” Chinese EV is now a status symbol. fortune.com, restofworld.org

Must Know Musk News

Elon took his son to the Super Bowl. businessinsider.com

Tesla makes billions from selling regulatory credits to other OEMs who don’t sell enough BEVs. “Tesla bears little to no incremental cost earning the credits, so the sales are virtually pure profit.” autonews.com, businessinsider.com

Elon must testify in the SEC investigation into his purchase of “X” (Twitter). cnbc.com

The US military thinks SpaceX rockets might help rapidly deploy cargo and troops. "Rocket cargo point-to-point is not the reason we're building Starship," said SpaceX senior adviser Gary Henry. "We're building Starship to get to Mars." [But] "what we're finding is it's a system we're putting together that has profound impacts for national security, and one of them just happens to be rocket point-to-point." phys.org

SpaceX plans to retire and “deorbit” 100 satellites. spacenews.com

Cybertruck with only 555 miles on it has been resold (against the original terms of sale). thedriven.io

Teala makes software updates to address cold-weather battery issues. theverge.com

If you want to call Elon, he will only take calls via X (Twitter). twitter.com

Energy

There’s a new charging network in town (okay, coming soon). Ionna, the charging network born from the unlikely partnership between Honda, GM, Hyundai, BMW, Kia, Stellantis and Mercedes-Benz, expects to “blanket” North America with at least 30,000 high-powered charge points. insideevs.com

LG Chem is thinking big and plans to build a $3B facility for battery cathode refinement and manufacturing in the US. “LG Chem has secured a long-term cathode material supply contract with General Motors (GM) worth $19 billion. The contract will commence in 2026 – when the factory is expected to come online – and run until 2035.” electrek.co

Shell closes California-based light vehicle hydrogen stations. arstechnica.com

At the same time, Shell expects the demand for liquid natural gas to continue to grow. theglobeandmail.com

Tesla launches new PowerWall 3. teslarati.com

ICYMI

Ethiopia was the first country to ban the sale of ICE vehicles. electrek.co

Hoonigan crash battle looks like too much fun (until you flip your Rubicon). youtube.com

In case you were wondering, Tom from MySpace (everyone’s friend) is doing just fine. finance.yahoo.com

But Wait, There’s More

The “six cars you must see” at the Toronto Auto Show (for those in the Toronto area). theglobeandmail.com

Kia overtakes Hyundai for the first time in more than two decades. bloomberg.com

The combination of increased vehicle sale prices driving up the price of vehicle insurance and a persistent shortage of service technicians results in more expensive car repairs. cnbc.com

BEV share grows to 23% of January sales in the UK and the Netherlands. cleantechnica.com, cleantechnica.com

Apple Music rewrites Super Bowl history by editing Alicia Keys's halftime show performance in a posted YouTube video. theverge.com

OpenAI releases new text-to-video AI tool. wired.com

Diamonds grown in a lab are cheaper and better than those dug out of the ground. Some brides feel guilt about it. theatlantic.com

Two words: Woolly Mammoth newsweek.com

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