The European Union wants to ban the sale of new thermal cars from the year 2035. However, many manufacturers believe that internal combustion engines will cease to be commercially viable much sooner; specifically when the new Euro 7 regulation comes into force, which is still being debated by the European authorities.
Although there are groups that will continue to invest in improvements to comply with the new regulations, others like Stellantis believe that it will not be worth it. For this reason, the French-Italian-American giant will allocate its budget to the development of the electric car to make it cheaper and make it accessible to the general public as soon as possible.
At the time, the company announced that from 2026 it will only launch electric models in our market, discontinuing its thermal offer in 2030. However, Davide Mele, senior vice president of corporate affairs at Stellantis Italia, has hinted in a recent interview that these plans could be accelerated.
“The costs of this technological transformation are high, 50% more for the same segment, and huge investments are required to face this challenge”. This is not the first time that a Stellantis executive has made reflections of this type, since Carlos Tavares, executive director of the group, has warned on several occasions that the autochthonous industry will be in danger if electric cars do not become more affordable.
Stellantis will bet heavily on the electric car
“We accept the transition, but let us not forget that there is Euro 7 legislation that forces companies to invest in the internal combustion engine that will die in 2035. So if we look at the reasoning that we are making, 2027 will already be a year in which the internal combustion engine will die. From this point of view, we are asking for a review of Euro 7″.
This transformation will affect all the group’s brands in Europe: Abarth, Alfa Romeo, FIAT, Lancia, Maserati, Jeep, DS, Citroën, Opel, and Peugeot… In addition, the truth is that the trend will be global, as its American firms (Chrysler, Dodge…) will also strongly bet on electrification in the short term.
Stellantis’ electric offensive will be based on the use of four highly flexible platforms: the STLA Small, STLA Medium, STLA Large, and STLA Frame. The first will not arrive until 2026 (the model in charge of releasing it will be the next FIAT 500), while the next two will be launched in 2023. The last one will debut in 2024 with the electric RAM 1500.
