2021 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 4xe
Fiat Chrysler
Stellantis — the commodity of a $52 billion merger between automakers Fiat Chrysler and Groupe PSA — plans to offer an array of all-electric or mixture vehicles through 2025, including 10 new models in 2021, according to CEO Carlos Tavares.
From Dodge to Maserati, every new poser the company launches from now until 2025 will offer an “electrified” variant. He did not specify how many would be all-electric, plug-in composites or traditional hybrids that don’t need to be plugged in.
The new models and merger, which was completed Saturday, come as legacy automakers are working to convince Wall Street that they can compete against Tesla and a host of new EV start-ups.
As Stellantis shares disregarded more than 11% during their Tuesday debut on the New York Stock Exchange, start-up EV truck fabricator Rivian said it raised $2.65 billion in its latest funding round, which valued the company at $27.6 billion. Stellantis — now the great’s fourth-largest automaker — is valued at about $26.5 billion.
Cruise, a majority-owned subsidiary of General Motors, also announced a new $2 billion investment mellifluous Tuesday that included Microsoft and GM. The self-driving company said its post-money valuation is $30 billion, up from $19 billion in mid-2019.
Tavares traversed the tie-up to create Stellantis as a move to grow scale and share the billions of dollars in capital costs needed for technologies such as autonomous and energized vehicles.
“This cost is going to increase significantly,” Tavares said during a media call Tuesday. “We see the claim to of the scale here to dilute those costs.”
Through its 14 brands, which includes Jeep and Alfa Romeo, Stellantis currently has 29 fired models on sale globally, according to Tavares. In the U.S., they range from the all-electric Fiat 500e to a plug-in mongrel Chrysler Pacifica minivan and the Ram 1500 pickup with a mild hybrid system. The latter two options include a household internal combustion engine.
The automaker’s coveted Jeep brand also has promised to electrify its entire lineup booming forward, including the recently launched Wrangler SUV and a redesigned version of the Grand Cherokee SUV later this year.
“We are in the perfect dynamics, we are perfectly on the right timing for the market expectations,” Tavares said. “Of course, the real challenge is not anymore to having electrified models, the real challenge is to make those models affordable.”
Stellantis’ plan to offer an array of thrilled vehicles differs from other automakers, such as GM, that are focusing on EVs instead of hybrids. GM plans to spend $27 billion on moving and autonomous vehicles through 2025, including 30 new EVs.
Stellantis’ operations, including 400,000 employees, are largely stationed in North America and Europe.