Automotive News Europe — 2024-03-06
Automotive Industry
The joint venture will give Stellantis exclusive rights to build, export and sell Leapmotor products outside China, a first for a legacy western automaker.
A proposed joint venture that would allow Stellantis to build and sell Leapmotor's electric vehicles outside China has received approval from a Chinese regulator, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has given its approval for the joint venture, said one of the sources, adding that the deal is still waiting on regulatory approval in other markets.
Stellantis said in October 2023 it was buying a 21% stake in Leapmotor in a $1.6 bn deal that would give Stellantis exclusive rights for the export, sale and manufacturing of Leapmotor's products outside China, a first for a legacy western automaker.
Stellantis will own 51% of the Dutch-based joint venture, which wll help the automaker to broaden its offering of low-priced battery-electric vehicles in Europe. The joint venture targets 500,000 sales outside of China by 2030, according to Stellantis's third-quarter presentation released on 31 October 2023.
In February 2024 Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares said the automaker could build EVs based on Leapmotor technology in Europe, North America or other markets where it needs competitively-priced models to compete with Chinese EV makers.
Stellantis is considering building up to 150,000 low-cost EVs a year from Leapmotor in Fiat's Mirafiori plant in Turin to be sold by Stellantis's European dealers, Automotive News Europe sources said.
The proposed joint venture comes amid rising trade tensions between China and the European Union, which is investigating whether Chinese EV makers benefit from unfair government subsidies.
The European Commission said on Wednesday, 6 March 2024, it will start customs registration of Chinese EV imports, meaning they could be hit by retroactive tariffs if the EU's trade investigation does conclude they receive unfair subsidies.