French Media: Stellantis Leverages Chinese Automakers to Absorb Excess European Production Capacity, Reducing Pressure to Close Plants in Europe
The first article related to China is titled "In Europe, Stellantis Bets on the Chinese Solution to Cut Costs and Investments." It notes that Stellantis aims to use Chinese automakers to "absorb" excess production capacity in Europe, thereby avoiding political and social pressures associated with closing factories in Europe.
Les Échos points out that five years after the merger of Peugeot Citroën and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Stellantis is increasingly leaning toward the United States while distancing itself from Europe. The recent strategic plan unveiled by CEO Antonio Filosa confirms this trend: Europe will no longer receive equivalent development resources. In fact, 60% of Stellantis’ product investments will go to North America, with the remaining 40% allocated to the "rest of the world." For Stellantis, one of the current priorities is cost control—this includes restructuring its brand portfolio as well as addressing the long-standing issue of overcapacity at European plants.
In North America, the group plans to increase output and raise factory utilization rates to 80%, with a target for U.S. market sales growth of 35%. In Europe, the goal is also to raise factory utilization from 60% to 80%, but this will partly rely on cutting capacity. The group plans to reduce total European production capacity from 4.65 million units to 3.85 million units—a reduction of about 800,000 units.
Notably, Stellantis has not announced any plant closures. Management says future measures may include "factory transformation" or "shared factories." Examples include the planned transformation of the Poissy plant in France, as well as shared production lines at factories in Zaragoza, Madrid (Spain), and Rennes (France), which would be used jointly with other automakers. The key point is that vehicles produced by partners under such arrangements will no longer count toward Stellantis' own production capacity.
Les Échos notes that the currently announced measures are insufficient to achieve the target of reducing 800,000 units of capacity. Even assuming the Poissy plant produces 200,000 units annually, the already reduced or shared capacity amounts to only around 400,000 units. Therefore, after partnering with Chinese automakers like Zeekr and Dongfeng, Stellantis may collaborate with even more Chinese car companies in the future. Opening up European factories to Chinese enterprises is not merely about cost reduction—it could also generate revenue through shared production lines, either in cash or via technology cooperation. For example, China’s Geely previously provided multi-energy platform technology to Renault in Brazil. Such collaborations particularly align with Stellantis’ current needs.
Given that the group has already decided to limit R&D investment in Europe, it hopes to acquire electric vehicle-related technologies at lower cost through partnerships—such as technological capabilities from Zeekr. However, unions have begun expressing concerns that this strategy might negatively impact engineering and R&D positions in the future.
On the product side, Stellantis plans to continue expanding its product lineup in the European market while avoiding significant budget increases. Its overall approach toward Europe remains cautious: expecting a 15% growth in European revenue, with operating profit margins maintained between 3% and 5%. By contrast, targets for North America are significantly higher: revenue growth of 25%, and profit margins reaching 8% to 10%. This clearly shows that Stellantis’ current growth focus remains primarily centered on the North American market.
Source: rfi
Original: toutiao.com/article/1865972992091211/
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