The deal also sees the formation of Leapmotor International, a 51/49 Stellantis-led joint venture with rights for the export, sale, and manufacture of Leapmotor products outside Greater China.
The partnership aims to further boost Leapmotor’s sales in China, while using Stellantis’ global presence to accelerate Leapmotor brand sales in other regions, starting with Europe. Stellantis further intends to use Leapmotor’s EV ecosystem in China to help meet Stellantis’ core Dare Forward 2030 electrification targets.
Stellantis said it is investing over €50bn over the next decade in electrification to deliver on the targets of reaching a 100 per cent passenger car BEV sales in Europe and 50 per cent passenger car and light-duty truck BEV sales in the United States by 2030. To achieve these sales targets, the company is securing approximately 400GWh of battery capacity, including support from six battery manufacturing plants in North America and Europe.
“As consolidation unfolds among the capable electric vehicles start-ups in China, it becomes increasingly apparent that a handful of efficient and agile new generation EV players, like Leapmotor, will come to dominate the mainstream segments in China,” Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares said in a statement. “We feel it’s the perfect time to take a leading role in supporting the global expansion plans of Leapmotor, one of the most impressive new EV players who has a similar tech-first, entrepreneurial mindset to ours. Through this strategic investment, we can address a white space in our business model and benefit from Leapmotor’s competitiveness both in China and abroad.”
Focused on the mid-to-high end market, Leapmotor delivered approximately 111,000 NEV units in 2022. In the next three years, Leapmotor’s product plan is expected to cover the full range of A-to-E segments, based on one technical architecture with three highly scalable platforms with BEV and Range Extender EV powertrains.
In 2022, Stellantis shipped over six million vehicles, with net revenues of €179.5bn and net profit of €16.8bn. In the first half of 2023, the company had net revenues of €98.4bn and net profit of €10.9bn.
The joint venture expects to begin shipments in the second half of 2024.
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