Stellantis: Curic gives the go-ahead for collaborations with partners, with a focus on Leapmotor

Stellantis has “expertise and development centres in France, Italia and Germany. A large part of our design and engineering activities is therefore based on European expertise and technologies. We want to continue developing these capabilities in Europe.” This was stated by Ned Curic, Head of Product Development and Technology at Stellantis, speaking on the opening day of the Paris Motor Show. Responding to questions about whether there might be further developments and expansions of the collaboration with the Chinese firm Dongfeng, Curic said that “we can certainly collaborate with other companies and forge partnerships, but we intend to carry out development work alongside our own teams, within our European technology centres. In this way, we can work alongside our partners whilst retaining core expertise in-house and contributing directly to the development of the technologies.”

Ultimately, he emphasised, the strategy “consists of continuing to design and develop in Europe, building a solid European technological base and maintaining a manufacturing presence in Europe”. Stellantis, as already outlined at the presentation of its strategic plan last May, has a clear plan regarding production and the sharing of platforms: “We are developing certain technologies that can be used globally, concentrating development activities in Europe and focusing on close collaboration with Leapmotor and the other partners involved. “When it comes to developing specific systems, we assess opportunities for collaboration that enable us to scale up our operations and acquire new expertise,” he said, explaining that, however, “at present, resources are limited and we do not want to spread them too thinly across too many different projects and activities”. Looking at the programmes that Stellantis is developing and will develop in the coming years, “we must take into account not only vehicles intended for the European market, but also those intended for the American market and other international markets” and “we try to limit the dispersal of resources and maintain a very pragmatic approach, focused on effective execution”.