Stellantis has chosen Poland as the European production base for its Chinese partner Leapmotor’s electric cars. The assembly of the first T03 cars (electric small cars) at the Tychy plant has already begun, Leapmotor managers revealed to analysts at the investment bank Jefferies. Mass production will begin in September and Stellantis aims to produce between 60 and 100 thousand cars during 2025. After that, the long-term goal is to sell 500 thousand units per year.
The effect of the new European duties
Stellantis invested approximately 1.5 billion to acquire 21% of Leapmotor. The agreement involves the creation of an alliance, 51% controlled by Stellantis, which holds the exclusivity for the sale of Leapmotor cars outside of China. The initial plan was for the cars to be produced in China and then distributed by Stellantis in Europe. However, the EU Commission’s decision to raise duties on imports of electric cars from the Asian country has pushed the leaders of the two companies to review their strategy. Leapmotor will in fact be subject to tariffs of 31% (to which is added a 5% on components): to avoid the tax, therefore, some of its models will be destined for assembly in Europe.
The Mirafiori hypothesis fades away
A few days ago, the CEO of Stellantis, Carlos Tavares, anticipated that the company had already identified the European factories for Leapmotor, choosing them on the basis of two criteria: quality and production costs. This last element seems decisive in the choice of the Polish plant of Tychy, preferred to the Turin plant of Mirafiori which, according to unconfirmed rumours, was in the running. According to what Leapmotor managers reported to Jefferies, the production costs of a car in Poland are half compared to Italy: 400-500 euros compared to around 1000 euros.
