RENNES (Ille-et-Vilaine) (Reuters) -Stellantis will adapt to the future decisions of Donald Trump, hostile to electric cars, Carlos Tavares said on Monday, thanks to its strategy of multi-energy vehicle platforms, including a new intended in particular for the United States will be presented on Tuesday.
The CEO of Stellantis was speaking on the sidelines of a visit to the automobile group’s site in Rennes (Ille-et-Vilaine).
Asked about the future policies of Donald Trump, who will take office on January 20, Carlos Tavares responded during a press briefing: “We will respectfully wait for Mr. Trump to make the decisions he deems good for his country, then we will adapt to this context.”
“Our mission is simple: to offer clean, safe and affordable mobility. And we will do it with a dosage that will correspond to the expectations of the communities and countries in which we operate,” he added.
Donald Trump makes no secret of his strong reservations about electric cars, readily described as a “scam”, and could reverse purchasing aid or strengthen taxes on EV imports as part of a protectionist policy .
According to analysts and industry executives, the removal of aid could favor already established electric specialists, such as Tesla, and penalize the new programs of the historic American “big 3”.
Carlos Tavares, weakened in recent months by operational difficulties in North America which forced Stellantis to issue a spectacular “profit warning”, however noted that beyond Donald Trump’s position, “there are in the States -Uniting very different sensitivities, even if only geographically, in different States on the issue of the environment.”
He also said he was confident in Stellantis’ ability to respond to different scenarios thanks to its flexible platforms – which can serve as a basis for gasoline, hybrid or electric engines – such as the new STLA Frame, which will be detailed on Tuesday and will be used mainly for pick-ups which are very popular in the United States.
OF ACTIVITY AT LEAST UNTIL 2030
The Rennes factory is preparing the production of the new Citroën C5 Aircross, a family SUV unveiled last month at the Paris Motor Show and which will be available with thermal, hybrid and electric engines.
It is based on the medium-sized platform “STLA Medium”, the installation of which on the Breton site represented an investment of 160 million euros.
The Rennes factory has been the subject of a profound “compaction” over the last ten years, with a reduction by half of its surface area and more than half of its workforce, which reached 1,800 people.
Good news for the site, regularly worried about its future due in particular to its remote geographical position in Europe, the new C5 Aircross will be available in the second half of 2025.
According to the group, the car offers the factory “business prospects at least until 2030”, but the unions are wary of the single product.
“With just one vehicle, Rennes is on borrowed time, we need a complement to the C5 Aircross,” Christine Virassamy, CFDT secretary at the CSE, told Reuters.
Asked about the subject, Carlos Tavares replied that it was not planned for the moment. “But as the future C5 Aircross is based on the Medium platform, there may be other opportunities, or even a need for bridging between different factories to accommodate the commercial success of our models,” he added. .
The director general, who will retire at the end of his mandate at the beginning of 2026, also told journalists that the process of appointing his successor would begin at the end of the year and would last throughout 2025.
(Report by Gilles Guillaume, edited by Sophie Louet)
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