from the memo-to-Chrysler,-they-want-reliability-too dept.
Stellantis says it overestimated the EV transition and is shifting back to hybrids, V8s, and what customers actually want:
Stellantis took a €22.2 billion ($26.25 billion) write-down last year, tied largely to scaling back electric vehicle programs. But buried inside the numbers is a much bigger message: the company openly acknowledged it moved faster than customers were ready to follow. According to Stellantis and Reuters, the automaker is now rebuilding its strategy around real-world demand rather than aggressive electrification targets.
CEO Antonio Filosa was unusually direct in Stellantis's announcement, saying the company "over-estimated the pace of the energy transition" and allowed their pre-planned strategy to overpower what buyers actually want. The result was billions written off in canceled EV products, impaired electric platforms, and downsized battery operations. Keep in mind, Stellantis had once aimed for electric vehicles to make up 50% of U.S. sales and all European sales by 2030, despite EV adoption in America sitting at 7%.
That disconnect is now being corrected, with Stellantis shifting capital back toward hybrids and internal combustion models that align more closely with consumer wants. And it seems other automakers have the same idea in mind, with even Porsche rumored to abandon the all-electric 718. To add fuel to the fire, there are countless players in the EV segment nowadays, with Chinese automakers seeming to lead the pack. Pursuing a profitable full-electric approach has become more difficult than ever before.
Previously:
- Stellantis Drops Jeep, Chrysler Plug-in Hybrids Amid EV Sales Slowdown
- Chrysler to Go All-Electric by 2028, Starting with the Airflow in 2025
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Chrysler to go all-electric by 2028, starting with the Airflow in 2025:
Not much appeared to be happening at Chrysler in the past few years, though that's about to change. Its parent company, Stellantis, announced yesterday that Chrysler will become its vanguard electric brand. By 2028, the 96-year-old automaker's entire lineup will be all-electric.
That's not too much of a stretch. Chrysler only sells two vehicles right now, the decade-old 300C sedan and the Pacifica minivan, which is available as a plug-in hybrid. Today, at the Consumer Electronics Show, the company shared more details on the Airflow, a concept crossover that appears to be close to ready for production—so close, in fact, that the announcement was probably a thinly veiled preview of the company's first EV due in 2025.
The Airflow is powered by two 150 kW (201 hp) electric motors, one for each axle, and while Chrysler hasn't disclosed the size of the battery, it said it is targeting 350–400 miles of range. If the company can achieve that, it would be quite the coup, rivaling the best from Tesla. Good thing it has a few years before it has to deliver.
In resurrecting the Airflow name, Chrysler isn't just giving a nod to its aerodynamicists. It's saying that the storied brand still has what it takes to lead the pack. The original 1934 Airflow was a revolutionary teardrop of a car, designed using extensive wind tunnel testing and made with an all-steel, unibody frame. It drew inspiration from the contemporary Streamline Moderne movement, and though the car was a commercial flop, its design and features were nonetheless influential.
Automotive giant Stellantis will stop selling its plug-in hybrid electric Jeep Wrangler and Grand Cherokee models and Chrysler Pacifica minivans in the United States amid sluggish electric vehicle sales, the company announced on Friday:
"Stellantis will phase out plug-in hybrid programs in North America beginning with the 2026 model year, and focus on more competitive electrified solutions, including hybrid and range-extended vehicles," the company said.
[...] Stellantis's decision comes three months after Chrysler recalled more than 320,000 Jeep plug-in hybrids in the United States and 20,000 Jeeps in Canada over concerns of a battery that could catch fire even when the vehicle was not running. The recall applied to Jeep Wranglers from 2021 to 2025, and Jeep Grand Cherokees from 2022 to 2025.
[...] In other company news, Stellantis announced on Friday it was partnering with Bolt, Europe's leading mobility platform, to explore the development of driverless autonomous vehicles for commercial operations across Europe.
Related:
- US EV Sales Will Collapse 60% In October, J.D. Power Forecasts
- GM to Take $1.6 Billion Hit as It Scales Back Electric Vehicle Operations
- Canadian EV Sales Collapse by 35% as Gas Car Purchases Surge
- Stellantis Lays Off Thousands of Workers after Pocketing Hundreds of Millions in EV Subsidies
(Score: 5, Insightful) by AnonTechie on Wednesday February 11, @08:50PM (4 children)
It is always a good idea to sell what the customer wants. Isn't this well known: SELL THE PROBLEM YOU SOLVE, NOT THE PRODUCT YOU HAVE !
Albert Einstein - "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
(Score: 5, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday February 11, @09:46PM
In this case: the primary customer, and shaper of many smaller customers' buying preferences, being the US government.
Strip subsidies from one energy source and add them to another, it's not rocket science to predict how demand is going to swing.
🌻🌻🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 5, Insightful) by corey on Wednesday February 11, @11:27PM (2 children)
It seems to me that this is about giving in to the EV market race against the Chinese. They are clearly winning. I think the rationale of this being about what the customer wants is bs.
As time goes on, the demand for ICE vehicles will diminish, and so will Stellantis. But the current executives will be gone by then. And at that point, there’ll only be Chinese vehicle manufacturers (and other non-American companies trying to compete in the EV space). It’ll be too late for Stellantis and others like them to start again making EVs.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday February 12, @02:11AM (1 child)
I think we are going to start seeing a lot of Chinese EVs "leaking" across the 48th parallel...
🌻🌻🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday February 12, @02:21AM
48th 49th, it all looks the same when you're in the 20s.
🌻🌻🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by turgid on Wednesday February 11, @09:58PM (2 children)
Some countries had generous incentives and subsidies for buying EVs and for charging infrastructure, which were suddenly cut. There were also tax breaks, which have been taken away in the UK, for example.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 5, Insightful) by ledow on Thursday February 12, @08:26AM (1 child)
Yes, those are always short-lived incentives to drive early adoption and are removed when they're not required because otherwise government just ends up subsidising everyone new Mercedes.
The point of those is to get the industry started and have a few competitors in it, by the time most "ordinary" people are buying, those things evaporate quickly.
This isn't a surprise and no industry should be RELIANT on those in order to operate after the initial outlay (*cough* Tesla *cough*). They're a started pack for companies like this to fund a bit of their new tooling and processes, not a perpetual discount to customers and freebie to the manufacuturers.
By the time those expire, if you don't have a viable product... then you failed. Especially if PLENTY of others have viable products and didn't fail.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by turgid on Thursday February 12, @10:29AM
That's true. The problem we have in the UK is that the incentives and subsidies were all taken away all at once, quickly and without warning too soon.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 5, Interesting) by RedGreen on Wednesday February 11, @11:14PM
When you sell over priced garbage it is not surprising people do not want to buy it. They will be back in another ten years at most crying for another bailout when the Chinese have totally eaten their sales away selling good quality affordable vehicles. And having just one market for them in the US is not going to cut it to keep them going as the Chinese expand out into the world looking to make new customers and sales. While them US companies look to block competition with trade barriers instead of selling what the world wants not those huge disgusting monster vehicles them companies want to sell at obscene profit margins.
"Cervantes definitely was prescient in describing a senile Don fighting against windmills." -- larryjoe on /.
(Score: 4, Touché) by ledow on Thursday February 12, @08:22AM (1 child)
"Wah, wah, wah, we couldn't compete with the Chinese because they have just as good or better products at lower prices, so we're going back to destroying the planet for a laugh and so customers can feel big and strong about being dirty."
Customers wanted asbestos, lead paint and cigarettes, it doesn't mean that you should be humouring them.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Thursday February 12, @04:20PM
Customers definitely wanted and still want the Cigarettes.
However, given knowledge about Asbestos and Lead, I would hope that customers wouldn't want those things. At least not in their own home.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"