Stellantis bets big on hybrid cars with expanded line-up plan

Stellantis – parent company of Alfa Romeo, Citroen, Fiat, Jeep, Peugeot and Vauxhall – will set out a plan to boost its hybrid offering over the coming months, with European boss Jean-Philippe Imparato refusing to bet heavily on EVs as customer appetite continues to stagnate.

Imparato said the one thing he won’t do this year is “cut ICE” availability to artificially inflate electric-vehicle market share. Instead, he’ll look to expand his company’s hybrid offering – especially in small-car segments, where EV options are considered prohibitively expensive.

“If you want to reach 20 per cent BEV (battery-electric vehicle) mix, we have two solutions,” Imparato told us. “Product, or cutting ICE (internal-combustion engines)  – and cutting ICE is something I cannot stand. I don’t support that. I don’t want to do that. That is the last decision I will make. 

“It will be a drama for the industry, for our people, for our factories. So the decision is to ease compliance of our people,” he said.

The Chief Operating Officer of Stellantis Enlarged Europe told Auto Express he will, in the coming weeks, present his executive board with an “updated product and powertrain plan for the coming three years”. It’s understood Imparato will make the outcome of this plan public in the spring, with an expected focus on mild, full and plug-in hybrid technology.

He told us: “2035 is not a problem for me today; the question for us is not 2035. The question for us is the coming three years. The end of the game is not in question, but the rhythm, the pace, the speed, the conditions, the methods we used to go there must be aligned.

“The question we have to speed up – due to the changes we see on the market – is more the powertrain set-up; an enlarged offer of MHEV, and the new offer on HEV on some segments. But we react based on the market evolution. In terms of offer, [Stellantis] will be there. And [Stellantis] will be there with the right entry price.”

As such, Stellantis and its associated companies will continue to spread its bets with an architecture that supports both combustion and electric powertrains: “With multi-energy platforms you are protected,” Imparato said. “If you use the multi-energy at full potential, you solve the problem.”

The strategy means Imparato and his executive team can dial up EV production if they see a surge in customer demand, or throttle it back if appetite dries up. The European boss told us he has to look “two months in advance” – locking in supply for March at the end of January, for example.

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