Fiat and Jeep owner Stellantis’ CEO follows Chinese route to avoid EV tariff ‘trap’

By South China Morning Post | Created at 2024-09-26 07:38:27 | Updated at 2024-09-30 15:33:43 4 days ago
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But the world’s No 4 automaker must navigate trade barriers on both sides of the Atlantic if it wants to succeed.

Tavares calls tariffs a “trap”, arguing that these will hurt legacy automakers by shielding them from the reality that Chinese rivals make EVs for about a third less.

The best way to compete is instead to “try to be Chinese ourselves”, Tavares said at a Reuters Events conference in Munich in May.

That belief led Stellantis to purchase a 21 per cent stake in Chinese EV maker Leapmotor last October, creating a joint venture giving Stellantis access to Leapmotor technology and exclusive rights to produce its EVs outside China.

 AFP

A general view of an electric vehicle production line at the Leapmotor factory in Jinhua, a city in eastern Zhejiang province, on September 18, 2024. Photo: AFP
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