SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Stellantis and its Chinese partner Leapmotor have abandoned plans to make a second electric vehicle model at the Franco-Italian carmaker’s factory in Poland, amid trade tensions with Beijing, two people told Reuters familiar with the matter.
The change in the joint venture’s production plans came after Beijing asked its automakers to avoid any significant investments in European countries that favor higher tariffs on Chinese-built electric vehicles, according to both sources.
The Stellantis-Leapmotor joint venture instead plans to use a Stellantis plant in Eisenach, Germany, which produces Opel models, and its plant in Trnava, Slovakia, as alternative production sites for the B10 electric SUV, the company said. one of the sources.
Stellantis and Leapmotor declined to comment.
Both sources declined to be identified.
The European Union’s new customs duties, which can reach 45.3%, came into force at the end of October after a year-long investigation which divided the Twenty-Seven and generated retaliations from Beijing.
Reuters previously reported that Chinese automakers were asked at an Oct. 10 meeting hosted by the Commerce Ministry to suspend plans to invest in projects such as factories in countries that supported the proposal.
Ten EU member states, including France, Poland and Italy, voted in favor of raising tariffs in a vote held in early October. Five, including Germany and Slovakia, opposed it and 12 abstained.
Leapmotor and Stellantis presented their future B10 EV at the Paris motor show four days after the meeting organized by the Ministry of Commerce, a launch which the two manufacturers hailed as an important step in their partnership.
The Information Office of China’s State Council and China’s Ministry of Commerce did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Stellantis factory in Tychy, Poland, currently produces Leapmotor’s T03 electric city car. It is not yet known whether the plan could affect the assembly of the T03, nor whether it will have an impact on employment.
(Reporting by Zhang Yan and Kevin Krolicki; with contributions from Giulio Piovaccari, Qiaoyi Li, Christoph Steitz, Alan Charlish, Jason Hovet and Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk; Diana Mandiá)
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