Autobayng News Team
- Published On Jun 3, 2026 at 12:31 PM IST
New compact sedans and SUVs will be developed.“>
Jeep and Fiat owner Stellantis said Tuesday it would spend €1 billion ($1.2 billion) in France to develop a new platform to help the carmaker compete with Chinese rivals.
The investment will also go towards developing and building three new electric or hybrid Peugeot models at its Mulhouse factory in eastern France.
The investments are part of a €60-billion-euro plan to revive profitability over the next five years, and confirm a plan for the under-used site announced by President Emmanuel Macron last month.
The new models will be compact sedans and SUVs to bolster Peugeot’s presence in a “key segment” that accounts for 30 per cent of European car sales, Stellantis said.
European carmakers are scrambling to remain competitive on their home turf while shifting to clean-energy models, with Chinese rivals in particular making inroads with less expensive vehicles.
Half the investment will go towards the development of the STLA One production platform, which can be used for EV and hybrid models and to reduce production costs while speeding up new model production.
The “new platform will allow us to reduce costs by 20 per cent and make us competitive with Chinese groups that manufacture in Europe”, said Stellantis’s chief executive Antonio Filosa.
Filosa acknowledged earlier this year that Stellantis had overestimated demand for electric vehicles, taking a massive €22 billion write-down of its efforts and prompting a strategic review.
The world’s fourth-largest automaker is now focusing on four of its 14 brands — Peugeot, Fiat, Jeep and Ram — while reducing its European production capacity by 20 per cent, or around 800,000 fewer vehicles per year.
It is also teaming up with Chinese partners to bolster sales in both France and abroad.
It recently signed a joint venture with Dongfeng to share manufacturing, sales and engineering operations in Europe, which have been underutilised in recent years as the European car market has never fully recovered to pre-pandemic sales levels.
Chinese carmakers are interested in opening production sites in Europe to bypass tariffs.
Stellantis has also agreed to share production sites with Leapmotor in Spain, and Filosa said there are also plans in the works to do so at its Italian facilities.
- Published On Jun 3, 2026 at 12:31 PM IST
Join the community of 2M+ industry professionals.
Subscribe to Newsletter to get latest insights & analysis in your inbox.
All about ETAuto industry right on your smartphone!
- Download the ETAuto App and get the Realtime updates and Save your favourite articles.
