Jeep And Ram's Owner Partners With Another Chinese Brand To Build EVs In Europe

Stellantis will build Dongfeng’s Voyah electric vehicles in France through a new European joint venture. The agreement follows a similar Stellantis partnership with Leapmotor that assembles Leapmotor vehicles in Spain to avoid higher EU import duties. Chinese EVs face an additional EU import duty of up to 35% on top of a 10% tariff, making local production more advantageous. The Dongfeng deal targets the Stellantis plant in Rennes, France, which can support up to three production lines and previously produced up to 400,000 vehicles annually. The plant currently uses only a third of capacity for the Citroen C5 Aircross. Dongfeng will also build Peugeot and Jeep vehicles in China under the same arrangement.

"Stellantis will build Dongfeng's Voyah EVs in France through a new European joint venture. The deal follows Stellantis' Leapmotor tie-up, which already brings Chinese EV production to Spain. Chinese automakers are turning to European assembly to blunt tariffs and gain a local foothold."

"Chinese EVs face an additional import duty of up to 35% in the EU, on top of the existing 10% import tariff. This hasn't stopped Chinese automakers from bringing their vehicles over and undercutting local competition, but building them locally is an even better deal for the automakers."

"The new Dongfeng deal focuses on the Stellantis plant in Rennes, France. It can accommodate up to three production lines and, at its peak, produced 400,000 vehicles per year, but now it only produces the Citroen C5 Aircross, using only a third of its capacity. Dongfeng will also build Peugeot and Jeep vehicles in China as part of the same deal."

"Stellantis already knows the playbook through its tie-up with Leapmotor (in which it holds a controlling share). The Chinese manufacturer initially began production of the T03 electric city car in Poland, but production there was halted in March last year, and it now builds the B10 electric crossover at the Stellantis factory in Zaragoza, Spain."

Read at insideevs.com