Stellantis – parent company of Alfa Romeo, Citroen, Fiat, Jeep, Peugeot and Vauxhall – will set out a plan to boost its hybrid offering over the coming months, with European boss Jean-Philippe Imparato refusing to bet heavily on EVs as customer appetite continues to stagnate.
Imparato said the one thing he won’t do this year is “cut ICE” availability to artificially inflate electric-vehicle market share. Instead, he’ll look to expand his company’s hybrid offering – especially in small-car segments, where EV options are considered prohibitively expensive.
“If you want to reach 20 per cent BEV (battery-electric vehicle) mix, we have two solutions,” Imparato told us. “Product, or cutting ICE (internal-combustion engines) – and cutting ICE is something I cannot stand. I don’t support that. I don’t want to do that. That is the last decision I will make.
“It will be a drama for the industry, for our people, for our factories. So the decision is to ease compliance of our people,” he said.
The Chief Operating Officer of Stellantis Enlarged Europe told Auto Express he will, in the coming weeks, present his executive board with an “updated product and powertrain plan for the coming three years”. It’s understood Imparato will make the outcome of this plan public in the spring, with an expected focus on mild, full and plug-in hybrid technology.
