Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares and Leapmotor CEO Zhu Jiangming attend a press conference in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province ZOEY ZHANG (Portal)
The automotive giant Stellantis announced this Thursday the purchase of 20% of the capital of the Chinese company Leapmotor for 1.5 billion euros. The agreement provides for the creation of an international division to sell its vehicles in Europe. The pact announced by both companies represents a new impetus for Stellantis’ strategy at the Asian giant, where the company last year liquidated its joint subsidiary with Cantonese GAC – which made Jeep for the Asian market – after years of loss-making accounts. .
The new joint company, Leapmotor International, will be 51% controlled by Stellantis, which will gain exclusive rights to export, sell and manufacture the Chinese automaker’s products outside China, an expansion plan that will begin in the second half of 2024 Europe will begin.
“Through this strategic investment, we will be able to fill a gap in our business model and benefit from Leapmotor’s competitiveness both in China and abroad,” said Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares, who described the company as “a China company of the new players in China” assessed Die [sector del] most remarkable electric vehicle.”
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The deal also gives Stellantis two seats on Leapmotor’s board, which will be responsible for appointing the CEO of the new joint subsidiary. Amsterdam-based Stellantis was formed in 2021 from the merger of Fiat-Chrysler with French group PSA, while Leapmotor was formed in late 2015 and is headquartered in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou.
Leapmotor shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange opened more than 11% higher following the deal, but reversed that positive trend during the morning and fell just before 12:00 local time (0400 GMT). just over 10%. .
This is not the first alliance that a European giant has signed with a Chinese automaker specializing in electric vehicles, as at the end of July Volkswagen bought 4.99% of Xpeng – one of Tesla’s main competitors in the Asian giant’s market – for around 630 million euros . UBS estimates that by 2030, three out of five new vehicles sold in China will be powered by batteries instead of fossil fuels.
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