Stellantis will invest 5.6 billion euros in South America between 2025 and 2030, the automotive group announced on Wednesday, to develop on the continent its offer of electric vehicles but also “biohybrid technologies”, combining electrification and engines powered by ethanol. . This investment is “the largest in the history of the Brazilian and South American automotive sector,” Stellantis said in its press release. It should allow “the launch of more than 40 new products” by the end of the decade.
“This announcement reinforces our confidence and our commitment to the future of the South American automotive industry, and constitutes a response to the favorable commercial context that prevails there,” declared the group’s CEO, Carlos Tavares, quoted in the statement.
The group with 14 brands is the leader in the region where it sold 878,000 vehicles in 2023, representing a market share of 23.5%. Fiat is the best-selling brand in South America, especially thanks to the Fiat Strada pick-up, the most popular vehicle on the continent.
Launch of Bio-Hybrid technology at the end of the year
This investment is part of the Dare Forward 2030 plan, which foresees 50 billion euros of investment in the electrification of the group’s range until the end of the decade. The 5.6 billion euros announced will be used, in particular, to finance “Bio-Hybrid” technology, which combines electrification and hybrid engines powered by biofuels (ethanol),” Stellantis detailed. The Betim plant in Brazil, which produces Fiat vehicles, including the Strada pick-up, “is the company’s global center of experience” in this technology. “In the future, the region will also produce a battery electric vehicle (BEV),” Stellantis continues.
The Bio-Hybrid technology developed “is compatible with all the company’s production lines in the region.” Its launch is scheduled for the end of 2024, according to the automotive group. South America is presented by Stellantis as an essential element of the “third engine” of the group formed with Africa, the Middle East, China, India and Asia-Pacific. Stellantis recently acquired 19.9% of an Argentine company that produces lithium, a metal essential for the manufacture of batteries, in order to “meet the electrification objectives defined in its global strategic plan.”
Source: BFM TV
