Stellantis is planning “a significant EV blitz,” with 25 all-electric models specifically aimed at the U.S. market, CEO Carlos Tavares said during a meeting with reporters at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.
That includes battery-electric models for all of its Detroit-based product lines — Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram — as well as offerings from import brands such as Alfa Romeo and Maserati. The first of the new EVs is expected to reach showrooms in 2024.
“We’re going to accelerate full throttle” the shift to battery power, said Tavares, noting there will be a number of hybrids coming to the Stellantis line-up as well. In fact, the internal combustion engine is far from dead, the CEO stressed.
The U.S. side of the automaker — formed by the merger of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and France’s Groupe PSA — has been slow to embrace electrification. Former FCA Chief Executive Officer Sergio Marchionne went as far as asking potential customers not to buy the company’s first all-electric model, the Fiat 500e, because it cost $14,000 more to produce than it could be sold for.
Change arrives
But things began to change with the Jeep brand’s introduction of the Wrangler 4xe — pronounced “4-by-e.” It uses a plug-in hybrid powertrain that not only provides 21 miles of all-electric driving but also delivers significant improvements in the torque needed for aggressive off-road driving. Since its launch last year, the Jeep Wrangler 4xe has become the nation’s best-selling PHEV.
The SUV brand has launched a second plug-in, the 2023 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4xe. And, earlier this month, it announced plans for its first all-electric models. That includes a subcompact Avenger model for overseas markets, as well as four EVs for the U.S. Those include the Wagoneer S and Recon, as well as two others yet to be revealed, global brand boss Christian Meunier told TheDetroitBureau.com this week. Wagoneer S and Recon will debut in 2024, the other two in 2025, he added.
In February, the Ram truck brand announced it will launch a battery-powered version of the Ram 1500 pickup in 2024, with other models to include an all-electric van.
The commercial BEV market “has accelerated very quickly over the last couple of years,” Mike Koval, the CEO of the Ram brand, told TheDetroitBureau.com in an interview, adding that “There are a lot of benefits in the commercial space.”
More battery-electric models on horizon
The long-struggling Chrysler brand revealed an all-electric concept at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show. And, a senior official told TheDetroitBureau.com on background this week, Chrysler’s first all-electric model will be very close in design to that prototype.
The brand is set to go 100% electric by 2028 and, in a one-on-one interview on Wednesday, Tavares said several other EVs are now being developed for Chrysler.
As for Dodge, the muscle car brand will end production of its long-lived Challenger and Charger muscle cars in 2023. It will return to the segment a year later with an all-electric performance model that, the insider confided, is “extremely close” to the design of the Dodge Charger Daytona SRT concept revealed last month.
“Electrification will make a fantastic American muscle car,” said Tavares, himself a well-respected semi-professional race driver.
ICE not completely done
Despite this push, Stellantis is “bringing new internal combustion engines to market,” but they will be substantially more fuel efficient and lower in emissions than the automaker’s current ICE powertrain line-up, Tavares said during the media roundtable.
Eventually, the U.S. will shift to 100% battery-electric propulsion, said the Portugese-born executive, but this “transformation to EVs in the U.S. will take longer than anywhere else” among major industrialized nations such as Europe, Japan and China.
All told, Stellantis will invest about $7 billion annually on EVs and software-based technologies during the next five years, said Tavares, about half of the automaker’s total spending on R&D and capital expenditures.
Long term, the executive declared, “Stellantis will be the only credible challenger of Tesla. At some point you will see that.”
Considering the flood of new EVs competitors are readying — with a collective industry investment in electrification of more than $500 billion, according to AlixPartners — that will be a tough boast to live up to.
It’s frustrating to not know what is being quoted. Particularly the last quote that stellantis (Chrysler) will be the only challenger to Tesla. The author needs to make their articles clear and accurate.
Uh, having a little problem here trying to figure out what your problem is with this paragraph:
Long term, the executive declared, “Stellantis will be the only credible challenger of Tesla. At some point you will see that.”
I ID’d Tavares in the paragraph above it. The article is clearly about the Stellantis electrification program for the U.S. Unless I’m missing something that seems pretty darned clear.
Paul E.
Pride comes before the fall Carlos