Stellantis vs. the EV Transition: Why the World's Fourth-Largest Automaker Is Struggling

# Stellantis vs. the EV Transition: Why the World's Fourth-Largest Automaker Is Struggling

In December 2024, Carlos Tavares resigned as CEO of **Stellantis** — a departure that came suddenly, under pressure, after a year of deteriorating North American sales, dealer inventory pile-ups, and public disagreements between management and the board. He left behind the world's fourth-largest automaker by volume and one of the most complex corporate structures in the global automotive industry: fourteen brands, manufacturing operations across three continents, and an EV strategy that had been repeatedly revised without being executed.

The gap between **Stellantis**' EV ambitions and its actual delivery is significant.

## The Numbers

| Brand | EV Model Status (2026) | Notes |
|-------|----------------------|-------|
| Jeep | Wrangler 4xe PHEV in market; Recon BEV delayed | Full BEV Wrangler pushed back twice |
| Ram | Ram 1500 REV BEV launched late | Behind **Ford** F-150 Lightning and **GM** Silverado EV |
| Dodge | Charger Daytona EV in limited production | Mixed market reception |
| Alfa Romeo | Junior EV (rebadged Stellantis BEV platform) | Strong design, limited volume |
| Fiat | Fiat 500e in Europe; Grande Panda EV | North American EV portfolio thin |
| Chrysler | Airflow concept never reached production | Essentially no current EV product |

The overall picture: **Stellantis** has more EV programs in various stages of development than almost any other automaker — and fewer competitive, volume-selling BEVs in the market than its size would suggest.

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## How It Works — Or Why It Doesn't

The structural challenge for **Stellantis** is not engineering capability. It is the multi-brand conglomerate problem applied to EV platform development.

**Stellantis** operates four distinct EV platforms: STLA Small, STLA Medium, STLA Large, and STLA Frame (body-on-frame, for trucks and truck-based SUVs). On paper, this is a rational architecture: each platform is sized for different vehicle segments, and multiple brands can draw from each platform to amortize development costs. In practice, the system creates coordination complexity that a focused EV-native company like **Tesla** or **BYD** does not face.

Consider the Ram 1500 REV. The full-size pickup truck is **Stellantis**' highest-revenue vehicle in North America. The REV launched on the STLA Frame platform with a standard-bed configuration and a 168 kWh battery pack — the largest battery in any production truck. The range and towing numbers are competitive. But the launch was delayed by over a year from initial targets, it arrived after the **Ford** F-150 Lightning and **GM**'s Silverado EV had already established dealer relationships and customer familiarity, and production ramp has been slow.

The Dodge Charger Daytona EV illustrates a different kind of challenge: brand identity translated to electric powertrain. **Dodge** built its customer base on V8 performance, sound, and a specific cultural identity around muscle cars. The Charger Daytona is genuinely quick — 0–60 in under 3 seconds in the Scat Pack configuration — and Dodge engineered an artificial exhaust sound system ("Fratzonic Chambered Exhaust") to address the silence problem. The market reception has been mixed: enthusiasts who buy **Dodge** for the engine experience have been difficult to fully convert, while buyers who want a quick EV have many alternatives without the muscle car heritage premium.

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## The Leapmotor Joint Venture

One significant strategic move: **Stellantis** took a 21 percent stake in **Leapmotor**, a Chinese EV startup, in late 2023, and formed a joint venture to sell Leapmotor vehicles outside China. The economics are straightforward — **Leapmotor** offers compact, competitively priced BEVs that **Stellantis** can distribute through its European dealer network under the Leapmotor brand, filling segments where **Stellantis** currently has no competitive BEV product.

The **Leapmotor** T03 (a city car) and C10 (a compact crossover) have launched in Europe at price points that undercut comparable European EVs substantially. The C10 at roughly €36,000 competes with vehicles from **Volkswagen**, **Hyundai**, and **Renault** that cost €5,000–€10,000 more.

The gap this fills is real: **Stellantis** has no competitive sub-€40,000 BEV from its European brands. The Leapmotor partnership provides one without requiring **Stellantis** to develop a new platform. The risk is brand dilution and the political sensitivity of selling Chinese-developed vehicles in a European market increasingly focused on protecting domestic manufacturers.

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## Market Impact

The Q3 2024 financial results were the clearest signal of structural stress: **Stellantis** reported a 27 percent decline in net revenues and an adjusted operating income margin that fell from 14.4 percent to 2.4 percent year-over-year. Inventory at North American dealers reached levels not seen since the industry's pre-lean-production era. Dealers publicly pressured the company to reduce wholesale shipments and increase incentive spending.

The post-Tavares period has been characterized by deeper cuts — production adjustments at North American plants, accelerated reviews of brand portfolio rationalization, and renewed focus on profitability over volume. The incoming leadership has signaled a slower, more selective EV ramp that prioritizes margins over market share in the transition period.

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## The Verdict

**Stellantis** has the brand portfolio to succeed in the EV transition. **Jeep** and **Ram** have the brand equity and vehicle category leadership to command premium EV pricing if the execution matches the ambition. The multi-platform architecture, if it works as designed, will provide competitive cost structure.

The gap is execution speed. **Ford** and **GM** — both slower than **Tesla** and **BYD** by any measure — are still ahead of **Stellantis** in volume EV delivery in North America. The Leapmotor strategy covers the European value segment but introduces its own risks.

**The world's fourth-largest automaker has first-rate brand assets and third-rate EV execution speed.** Whether the post-Tavares leadership can close that gap before the transition window closes is the central question of the next three years.

Stellantis vs. the EV Transition: Why the World's Fourth-Largest Automaker Is Struggling

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