Stellantis Ready To Fight China's Electric Car Domination, Predictions There Are Only Five Main Vehicle Manufacturers In The Future

Stellantis announced that DS Automobiles was the first automaker to include ChatGPT as the standard. (Doc. Stellantis)

JAKARTA - Stellantis, the auto giants produced by the merger of Fiat Chrysler and PSA Peugeot Citroen, plans to fight the dominance of Chinese electric car manufacturers in a unique way. Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares says they are ready to build a new factory to manufacture technology-based electric vehicles (EVs) from Leapmotors, which are actually their affiliates in China.

Leapmotor itself is a Chinese car manufacturer headquartered in Hangzhou, which specializes in the development of electric vehicles.

"The Western government may be tempted to block China's exports," Tavares said.

"We have the opportunity to assemble the Leapmotor car in our internal 'bubble'. It could be in Europe or North America," he continued.

Reportedly, Italy is being considered as the location of the first Leapmotor factory. However, Tavares insists, there is no reason to exclude other countries that own Stellantis factories.

This decision was driven by pressure to lower the price of electric cars in order to compete with Chinese manufacturers. Tavares predicts massive consolidation in the global automotive industry due to this competition, but for Stellantis himself, there have been no major merger talks or acquisitions.

"We are quite busy with internal affairs," he said, responding to rumors of a potential merger with Renault.

Tavares estimates there will be only five major players in the future automotive industry, due to the need to fight BYD and other Chinese auto giants.

"It should be questioned whether we can fight big Chinese companies like BYD if it is constrained by anti-monopoly rules that limit cooperation between Western companies," he said.

According to him, car manufacturers are currently faced with pressure to sell EVs at the price of conventional gasoline cars.

"As long as we can't do it with profit, we haven't met consumer expectations," said Tavares.

He expects Chinese manufacturers to have a 30 percent production cost advantage over the West.

"Perlindungan tariff tidak akan membantu," ujarnya.

Tavares predicts that if a Chinese manufacturer decides to build a factory in Mexico for exports to the United States, the Mexican government will welcome the investment.

"Washington must choose: violate USMCA trade agreements, or potentially add to the pressure of migration of Mexican workers to the United States to find jobs," he concluded.