Bosses at Peugeot, Citroen, Fiat and Jeep remain skeptical about electric cars

Carlos Tavares, CEO of Stallantis (which notably owns Citroen, Peugeot, Opel, Fiat and Jeep), has always been skeptical of the electric car market. It clearly continues to be so; More precisely, the “price war”, mainly led by Tesla and Chinese brands, worries him a lot.

Although the range of electric cars is increasing, even with certain success in terms of sales, the sprawling Stallantis group (which owns Peugeot, Citroen, Fiat, Jeep and Opel, but also DS, Alfa Romeo, Lancia, Maserati), Dodge or even Ram and Chrysler), has always been suspect in this area.

The skepticism is expressed in the person of the group’s CEO Carlos Tavares, who continues to warn about the dangers of market electrification. We’ve already heard about the “cruelty” of the paradigm shift in this sector, but it doesn’t stop there, as the newspaper reports to us. luck

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A “bloodbath” is approaching

It was in parallel with the presentation of its new STLA large platform, dedicated to the most luxurious and high-performance models of the group, that Carlos Tavares spoke on the “price war” mainly driven by Tesla and Chinese manufacturers. , leading BYD. And he doesn’t mince his words.

“If you decide to cut prices without considering the reality of your costs, you will have bloodshed. I’m trying to avoid a race to the bottom.”He clarified.

A timely statement, a few days after spectacular price cuts by several manufacturers: Volkswagen, Renault, MG and Dacia, but also Tesla and BYD have reduced the prices of their models by several thousand euros.

These price cuts are great news for consumers, but much less pleasant for brands’ profits: Tesla saw its profits fall by 40% in 2023 after it continued to cut the price of its models, mainly with the aim of being number 1 in the world in electric cars. – a situation that was nevertheless stolen from them by BYD at the end of 2023.

At the same time, some manufacturers have experienced a critical year in the electric sector in 2023: Volkswagen will have to cut its workforce and Ford has lost large sums in its dedicated division, forcing it to scale back its future projects.

Prices are still falling

The only thing left is that the Stellentis group is making efforts on the accessibility of its electric cars. Certainly, it is not as necessary as one might think, but some evidence still points in the right direction.

The Citroën ë-C3, for example, arrives in June with a price tag of 23,300 euros, excluding bonuses and apparently a good level of services. It will be joined a bit later by the Fiat Pandina, which will be almost identical to the small French car and should be fairly close in price.

The Peugeot E-3008 is also a nice surprise, all things considered. It’s priced recently and ultimately placed quite well in its category – not as much as the Renault Scenic E-Tech or Tesla Model Y offers, but we expected worse.

At the same time, Stellantis remains faithful to his aims “100% of battery electric car (BEV) sales for passenger cars in Europe and 50% of BEV sales for passenger cars and pickups in the United States by 2030”, While aiming “Carbon Neutrality by 2038”..

Ambitious aims, but we have to see if the pessimistic vision of his boss (or the upcoming elections?) will not thwart him.

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