There are few who would argue that Tesla today doesn’t lead the emerging market for battery-electric vehicles — but whether it can retain that position is a bit more uncertain, what with all the EV startups and established automakers now taking aim at it.
Initially slow off the start when it comes to electrified products, Stellantis will more than make up for lost time, CEO Carlos Tavares has said on several occasions in recent weeks. And the Portugese-born executive went even further on Friday, telling a group of reporters that the world’s fourth-largest automaker is positioning itself to topple the EV king-of-the-hill.
“I am very confident, I am trying not to be arrogant, just confident of the fact that we are going to catch up in the next couple of years with Tesla and it’s going to be a very healthy competition,” Tavares declared during a session organized by Mobility TV World.
Going all in, despite the challenges
That might strike some as odd coming from an executive who has repeatedly questioned the merits of battery-electric vehicles. In December, he warned the technology is gaining traction primarily because of government mandates, rather than consumer demand. Worse, he said regulators are essentially putting the burden on auto manufacturers to make BEVs affordable.
“There is no way we can transfer 50% of additional costs to the final consumer because most parts of the middle class will not be able to pay,” he told reporters at the time. And Tavares hasn’t backed down on his concerns about the higher costs of electric vehicles. He raised that issue again during a small group session TheDetroitBureau.com attended on March 4.
But if that’s the hand the industry has been given, he emphasized, Stellantis is going to play to win. And Tavares has begun offering a glimpse of what’s in the pipeline for a company that plans to electrify all 14 of its automotive brands.
During yet another session, the 63-year-old Tavares confirmed the Chrysler brand will be one of several shifting to an all-electric line-up. And even the Ram truck brand isn’t sitting on the sidelines. It will launch its pure electric Ram 1500 EV in 2024 and then add all-electric versions of every product line. The plan calls for high-line BEVs for Maserati and Alfa Romeo and even a battery-powered muscle car for Dodge.
A “big cash machine”
Calling Stellantis “a big cash machine,” March 1, while revealing the automaker’s strategic plan for the rest of the decade, Tavares confirmed it will invest $36 billion in electric vehicles and software technologies.
The Euro-American automaker isn’t the only one taking aim at Tesla, of course. In recent weeks, senior executives from the two largest Detroit manufacturers outlined their electrification plans. Ford CEO Jim Farley said beating Tesla was one of the primary reasons the company is splitting up into two units: Ford Blue, focused on conventional gas-model, and Model E, centered around its EV operations.
General Motors CEO Mary Barra has also laid out plans she says will let GM lead the EV market, with 30 all-electric models set to be on the market by 2030.
While few are willing to write off Tesla, or even predict it will cede segment leadership, some analysts worry that it will have trouble battling back against the wave of all-electric models coming at it during the next few years. CEO Elon Musk recently announced the much-ballyhooed Cybertruck pickup has again been delayed until at least 2023, and also revealed that the automaker has put off development of two promised entry-level battery-electric vehicles.
Russia could be the wild card
The push into EVs will be challenging on a number of levels. That includes access to critical raw materials. Automakers are racing to lock down supplies of key ingredients, including lithium, cobalt and nickel. All have surged in price in recent weeks, driven in part by Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine. The former Soviet heartland is one of the world’s largest suppliers of nickel.
During this Friday’s media event, talk turned to the Ukraine war. Stellantis is one of the foreign automakers that have shuttered their operations in Russia since the invasion began. That could force it to rethink a strategy outlined only two months ago when Stellantis said it operations in Kaluga would serve as an export base for vehicles and parts heading to Western Europe.
That has been put on hold and could be scuttled entirely, Tavares saying that, at this point, “new investments in Russia are not on the table.”
