Stellantis NV

The European Union and China reached a preliminary agreement on Friday to cut Chinese hybrid vehicle exports to the bloc by more than half, offering relief to European automakers ahead of next week's Paris Motor Show. The deal could ease competitive pressure on Volkswagen, Stellantis and Renault, which are struggling with declining sales and growing competition from Chinese manufacturers, though details remain limited and Germany's VDA automotive association described it only as an initial positive signal. Chinese brands captured nearly 12% of Europe's new-car market in August, according to Dataforce, and EU imports of Chinese cars and light commercial vehicles surged almost 75% to nearly 770,000 units during January-August, with hybrids currently avoiding the additional EU tariffs imposed on Chinese-made battery-electric cars. European manufacturers face mounting financial pressure, as Mercedes-Benz reported an 8% decline in third-quarter car sales while Volkswagen recently lowered its profit outlook following a similar warning from BMW. The Paris Motor Show, running October 12-18, will highlight efforts to defend European market share through affordable electric vehicles and new partnerships, with Renault's Dacia brand showcasing its second-generation Spring electric car priced below €18,000 in France, Volkswagen presenting its ID. Tiguan alongside a strategy involving four smaller electric vehicles manufactured in Spain, and Stellantis displaying more than 60 vehicles across eight brands including a Citroën electric concept developed using technology from Chinese partner Leapmotor, while Chinese competitors BYD, XPeng and Zeekr will also showcase expanded lineups.

Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa said Friday that the automaker's partnership with British startup Wayve could reduce development times and costs for advanced driver-assistance systems. Speaking alongside Wayve CEO Alex Kendall at the Wave technology event in Turin, Filosa said scale would be crucial to making hands-free driving affordable and speeding up adoption, pointing to level 2++ driving assistance technology that allows hands-off driving while still requiring driver supervision. He said cutting development timelines, currently around 24 months for Stellantis, was a key benefit of working with technology partners. Stellantis announced the partnership with Wayve in May to integrate the startup's AI-powered driving software into its STLA AutoDrive platform, with the first product launch targeted for 2028 in North America. Kendall said Stellantis' portfolio of brands, including Jeep, Fiat, Peugeot and Maserati, offered an opportunity to tailor autonomous driving characteristics across different vehicles while using the same underlying AI system, and at the Turin event the two companies demonstrated hands-free driving in Fiat 500e and Maserati Grecale development vehicles.

Stellantis is allocating $1.16 billion to capacity improvements across its European manufacturing operations, a sub-component of its broader €60 billion five-year strategic investment program, as it pursues roughly €6 billion in annual cost savings by 2028. The spending will cover research and development capabilities and manufacturing processes currently outsourced, supporting the company's multi-energy roadmap across electric and hybrid segments. Stellantis is also negotiating with China's JAC Group and Huawei for a long-term industrial collaboration around the Maserati brand, potentially developing a vehicle branded as Maserati internationally and Maextro in China, with plans for an extended-range Jeep Grand Wagoneer followed by a Ram 1500 REV. The automaker's shares have fallen almost 60% year-to-date in 2026, with a market capitalization of approximately $13.4 billion as of October 7 and a forward P/E ratio of approximately 5.19x, while it generated €1 billion in positive industrial free cash flow in Q2 2026 even as cash flow remained negative for the first half. Hedge fund holdings in the stock fell to 26 by the end of the second quarter of 2026 from 32 in the previous quarter, with Bpifrance SA the largest institutional investor at 192.7 million shares, or 6.10% of outstanding shares.

Shares of European carmakers advanced on Wednesday as media reports suggested European Union officials were preparing emergency measures to cap imports of Chinese-made hybrid vehicles into the bloc. France's Renault rose 4.3%, Fiat-maker Stellantis gained 3.0% in Italy, and Germany's Volkswagen had ticked up by 3.1% by 05:11 ET. EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic and his team were set to fly to China for talks due to begin on Thursday and last until Friday, according to The Guardian. Brussels is hoping to secure "tangible, meaningful and measurable" results from the discussions with Chinese officials prior to a meeting of EU leaders next week, the paper added. The EU has previously requested that China restrict hybrid car exports, warning that safeguards such as quotas could be put in place should Beijing not do so, and China's response to this request is unknown.

Dodge has opened orders for its new Smokescreen exterior color and Petrol Blue Laguna leather performance seats, moving both features from the Durango R/T 392 Smokescreen Concept shown at August's Roadkill Nights Powered by Dodge event into production. Smokescreen is the third new Durango exterior color introduced in the past three months, growing the Durango palette to 10 available exterior options, and it can be ordered across the full HEMI-powered 2027 Durango lineup at a U.S. MSRP of $595. The Petrol Blue Laguna leather seats are available for order exclusively on the Durango SRT Hellcat Jailbreak at an MSRP of $2,995, offered in a six-passenger layout with second-row captain's chairs and a full second-row center console. Combined with the new seats, Durango SRT Hellcat Jailbreak personalization possibilities now exceed 20 million combinations. Dodge CEO Matt McAlear said enthusiast feedback at Roadkill Nights helped accelerate plans to bring the concept to reality.

Stellantis reported third-quarter 2026 US sales of 324,277 vehicles, essentially flat versus the same quarter a year earlier, while year-to-date sales rose 3% to 958,463 units compared with the first three quarters of 2025. Ram brand sales climbed 29% in the quarter, lifted by a 73% jump in Ram 1500 sales, and Jeep brand sales fell 20% to 128,542 vehicles even as the Cherokee hybrid posted a 7,796% increase on the back of its launch. Chrysler brand sales rose 6% and Dodge brand sales edged up 2%, while FIAT brand sales dropped 83% and Alfa Romeo fell 65%. Michael Orange, Head of U.S. Retail Sales and Network Performance, said retail sales increased for the Ram 1500, up 42%, the Dodge Durango, up 18%, the Jeep Grand Wagoneer, up 14%, and the Chrysler Pacifica, up 7%. The company said orders for the 2027 Ram 1500 Rumble Bee 5.7L sold out their initial 2026 calendar-year allocation in 90 minutes, with the model due in dealerships in the fourth quarter of 2026, and that the FIAT Topolino, Stellantis' first entry into the US micromobility segment, arrived in select dealerships during the quarter.

Jeep has unveiled the 2027 Cherokee Trailhawk, a new off-road-focused trim of its Cherokee SUV that starts at $44,625 including a $1,995 destination charge and is available to order now. The Trailhawk carries the brand's Trail Rated badge and delivers an estimated 31 MPG combined from a 1.6L turbo hybrid producing 210 horsepower, alongside best-in-class off-road specifications including a standard approach angle of 28.8 degrees, a departure angle of 31.8 degrees and a ramp breakover angle of 21.9 degrees. It is the only SUV in its class to offer a water fording rating depth of 24 inches, and it pairs 9-inch ground clearance with a 1-inch lift, a 45-point Ramp Travel Index improvement over other Cherokee models, a class-exclusive two-speed power transfer unit with a 2.92 low range ratio and a 37.5:1 crawl ratio, plus standard steel skid plates and five Selec-Terrain modes. Jeep brand CEO Branden Coté said the Cherokee Trailhawk is the real deal and earned its Trail Rated badge through a gauntlet of testing scenarios, blending authentic 4x4 capability with hybrid efficiency. The SUV enters production later this year at Stellantis' Toluca Assembly Complex, and three optional packages are offered, including a Sun and Sound package, a trailering package for the Cherokee's 3,500-pound towing figure, and the Advanced Pro Tech Group.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration expects automakers' technology costs to decline by $60.6B through 2031 following the slashed fuel economy standards finalized this week. Within that total, General Motors' technology costs are seen falling by $20.4B, Stellantis by $6.2B, Hyundai by $5.3B, Ford by $5.1B, Toyota by $4.5B and Honda by $4.1B. NHTSA projected that if savings are passed on to consumers, per-vehicle costs for new vehicles would be reduced by $1,289 for model year 2031, on average. GM said it supported the goals of NHTSA's final rule for Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards and its intention to better align them with market realities. John Bozzella, CEO of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, called the Biden-era standards an effective requirement to switch to electric vehicles that was out of step with market realities and customer demand, and described the final rule as an appropriate course correction. Under the previous administration, the auto industry was expected to face no more than $1.83B in fines from 2027 through 2031 for not meeting CAFE standards.

Chinese autonomous driving software developer Momenta announced on the 28th that it has agreed to cooperate with the joint venture of European and American automaker Stellantis to develop advanced driver assistance technology. Momenta signed a global strategic partnership on the 24th to cooperate on autonomous driving technology with Dongfeng Stellantis Automotive Technology (Wuhan) and two brands under Stellantis. The two companies will jointly develop advanced driver assistance systems for newly mass-produced Peugeot and Jeep models, and the new technology will be introduced in China, Europe, and other markets, supporting Stellantis's global smart mobility strategy through its main brands. Stellantis established a joint venture with Dongfeng in August to compete with Chinese rivals. This partnership further advances Momenta's business expansion beyond its main customer, a German luxury carmaker. Momenta's driver assistance software has been used in public road driving in more than 1.2 million vehicles to date.

Wayve has locked in a commercial partnership with Mercedes-Benz to integrate its automated driving tech into at least one model set to be deployed within the next two years, a Level 2 product that still requires the human driver to remain engaged. The deal follows similar partnerships with Nissan and Stellantis, and earlier this year Wayve announced a partnership with Nissan and Uber to launch a robotaxi service in Tokyo. Meanwhile, about 80% of Waymo's roughly 4,000 robotaxis are in California and Texas, with its Texas fleet growing by more than 49% in the past three weeks. Aurora, which is developing and commercializing self-driving trucks, said it is targeting more than 30,000 driverless trucks in operation by 2030 and plans to have more than 200 driverless trucks by the end of the year. In other news, Zoox grounded its autonomous vehicle test fleet in Atlanta after safety drivers were potentially exposed to carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, or hydrogen sulfide gas inside its vehicles last month, prompting one worker to file a complaint with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. On the deals front, Carro is considering a dual listing on the Nasdaq and the Singapore Exchange, Spinny and PMI Electro Mobility Solutions have both filed confidentially for IPOs, EcoCeres reportedly plans to raise about $1 billion in a Hong Kong initial public offering, and Ultraviolette raised $85 million and brought on Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan as an adviser.

President Trump said Saturday he has approved new fuel economy standards for cars and trucks and eliminated the electric vehicle mandate signed by former President Biden. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the new standards will take the waste out of building cars in America, bringing lower prices and saving families thousands on a new car, and he added that more than $100B is being invested in American automobile manufacturing under his administration. Biden's 2021 executive order had aimed to have half of all new vehicle sales in the US electric by 2030. In December 2025, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration proposed a fleetwide average of 34.5 miles per gallon by 2031, compared with the 50.4 miles per gallon Biden had called for. NHTSA projected its proposal would save $930 per vehicle, but according to a Reuters report it would add 100 billion gallons of fuel consumption through 2050, increase carbon dioxide emissions by 5%, and boost fuel spending by $185B. In late August, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the administration would soon unveil a common-sense fuel economy standard because it wants Detroit to build cars that Americans want to buy.

Stellantis plans to display nine concept cars and more than 60 vehicles at the upcoming Paris Motor Show, a showcase spanning electric vehicles, fresh model launches across several of its brands, and new powertrain technologies. The nine concepts are built on the STLA One platform, and the display will occupy a 5,340 square meter stand. Jeep, part of the Stellantis group, has introduced the 2027 Wrangler JL-2A, drawing design cues from the historic Willys lineage. The company, described as a €11.5b auto group based in GB, designs and builds passenger cars, light commercial vehicles and powertrains worldwide, and the rollout offers investors a view into how its multi brand portfolio might evolve across segments. Attention now shifts to follow through such as order intake and mix for models including DS N°7, Lancia Gamma and the new FIAT SUVs over the next few quarters.

General Motors and Ford Motor are forecast to post the steepest US market-share declines among 13 car companies tracked by Cox Automotive, according to the firm's quarterly forecast. Ford's vehicle sales are expected to drop 8.8% through the first three quarters of the year, knocking its market share down nearly a full percentage point to 12.5%. GM is expected to end the quarter with a 16.7% market share, down from 17.4% a year earlier, as its US vehicle sales underperform a broader industry that Cox projects will decline 6.2% year-to-date through September 30. Chrysler-parent Stellantis is expected to gain market share through the third quarter, yet the combined share of the three Detroit automakers is expected to hit an all-time low of around 36%, said Charlie Chesbrough, senior economist at Cox Automotive, who added that Asian brands are expected to account for more than half of US new-vehicle sales for a second consecutive quarter. Toyota is forecast to post year-over-year growth in the third quarter and continues to close the gap with GM, while Hyundai Motor Group is also expected to deliver another strong quarter with sales rising from both a year ago and the prior quarter and ahead of Ford Motor Company. Tesla's year-to-date sales are projected to drop 18.9% year-over-year, pulling its market share down to 3.0% from 3.7%.

Stingray announced that its TuneIn streaming audio platform has entered into an agreement with global automaker Stellantis to bring the TuneIn application directly into select future Stellantis vehicles. The new global agreement gives Stellantis drivers access to more than 100,000 radio stations, including breaking news and programming from leading local, national and global broadcasters, along with curated music and podcasts, plus intuitive driver controls for playing, pausing and changing audio on the road. Rich Stern, CEO of TuneIn, said Stellantis is an incredible partner that shares the company's vision for exceptional in-car experiences. The integration is part of Stingray's broader strategy to expand automotive access to its audio catalog, and the company said it is positioned to significantly strengthen its global automotive presence and accelerate the rollout of branded in-vehicle audio experiences. TuneIn is already available to listeners worldwide through more than 200 connected devices and 14 automotive brands.

EU new passenger car registrations rose 4.5% year over year to 708,211 units in August, extending the market's growth streak to seven consecutive months, the ACEA reported Thursday. August growth accelerated from a 3% increase in July, with all four of the EU's largest car markets posting gains: Spain at 11.8%, France at 7.4%, Italy at 3.2%, and Germany at 2.6%. For the first eight months of 2026, new EU car registrations increased 5.3% despite persistent geopolitical uncertainty and rising energy prices, and battery electric vehicles accounted for 21.7% of registrations through August, up from 15.8% a year earlier, while hybrids held the largest share at 36.6% and plug-in hybrids 10%. Among major markets, BEV registrations rose 74.2% in France, 53.1% in Germany, and 40.9% in Denmark in the first eight months of 2026, with those three countries together accounting for 64% of total EU BEV registrations during the period. Year to date, Chinese automakers continued to post strong gains in the EU, with Chery Automobile up 250.9% to 116,318 units and BYD Company up 163% to 177,752 units, while Tesla sales climbed 65.9% to 142,165 units, SAIC Motor gained 19.8% to 163,707 units, and Geely Group rose 7.8% to 205,047 units; among major traditional automakers, Volkswagen Group rose 1.3% to 1.99M units and Stellantis increased 5.2% to 1.20M units, while Ford Motor fell 17.7%, Renault Group declined 4%, and Hyundai dropped 2.2%.

TD Cowen told clients on Tuesday that the recent selloff in auto stocks over fears of Chinese automakers entering the US market is "overdone," as President Xi Jinping arrives in Washington on Wednesday for three days of talks with President Trump. Senior analyst Itay Michaeli wrote that a shift in US import policy at the summit is "very unlikely," though he urged investors to prepare for that eventuality anyway, noting that most industry contacts share that view. A coalition led by the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, joined by the American Automotive Policy Council, dealer group NADA, and supplier association MEMA, sent a letter to Trump urging the administration to "keep the door firmly shut to Chinese automakers seeking to sell, import, or manufacture vehicles inside the US," crediting Trump's 100% tariffs on Chinese vehicles and a Commerce Department rule barring Chinese connected-car software with shielding the US from the surge seen in Europe, Australia, Southeast Asia, Mexico, and South America. TD Cowen laid out guardrails under which Chinese automakers could be forced in through minority-owned joint ventures with domestic players and probably barred from building full-size trucks, and Michaeli argued such structures "might even prove EPS accretive given sizable D3 EV losses," with Stellantis arguably having the most to gain given its lower North America EBIT starting point. The firm sees EV suppliers and charging networks like ChargePoint and EVgo as beneficiaries of faster US EV adoption, and parts makers with existing ties to Chinese OEMs, including BorgWarner and Aptiv, as "better positioned" than most, while the math is mixed for EV pure-plays Tesla, Rivian, and Lucid. The catch, per Michaeli, is that Big Three stock multiples could still suffer on the long-term risk that any initial restrictions eventually get lifted.

Stellantis is reportedly preparing a $1.16 billion investment to upgrade its manufacturing plant in Hordain, France, part of a broader €60 billion five-year strategic plan. The reported spending would improve efficiency at the site, bring some supplier-outsourced manufacturing processes in-house, and expand research and development as the company prepares new vehicles. Chief Executive Officer Antonio Filosa has reiterated plans to roll out dozens of new models while addressing overcapacity at some plants, and Stellantis has separately confirmed more than €1 billion of investment at its Mulhouse plant to build three new Peugeot electric and hybrid models starting in 2029. The automaker is targeting €6 billion in annual savings by 2028 and is pursuing partnerships with Zhejiang Leapmotor Technology and Dongfeng Motor to share manufacturing capacity in Spain and France. Stellantis reported second-quarter net income of €293 million, below analyst estimates of €464 million, as it faces pressure from cheaper Chinese brands.

Stellantis N.V. is considering selling its controlling stake in used-car marketplace Aramis Group as the automaker prepares for a larger investment cycle. Stellantis owns 60.5% of Aramis and controls 67.4% of its voting rights, and Rothschild & Co and Citi have reportedly been hired to work on a prospective sale. Aramis is now valued at just 263 million, down from nearly 1.9 billion at its 2021 IPO, and sales of Aramis vehicles fell more than 6% to 1.6 billion in the first nine months of 2026, with restored vehicle sales down about 5%. The prospective exit comes as management focuses more on Stellantis' main automotive business, with the automaker planning investments of almost 60 billion up to 2030 amid growing competition, mainly from Chinese manufacturers. Stellantis shares rose roughly 3.4% on Thursday.

Stellantis and Ford are preparing to launch extended-range electric vehicles in the US that run purely on battery power but carry a small gasoline engine used only as an onboard generator, the Wall Street Journal reported on September 7, 2026. Stellantis plans to introduce an extended-range Jeep Grand Wagoneer later this year or early next, followed by the Ram 1500 REV, which the Journal reports can travel roughly 690 miles on a full battery and tank of gas combined. Stellantis previously scrapped an all-electric version of the Ram 1500 in favor of this range-extended design, and plans to offer more than 100 miles of electric range in its new EREVs. Ford plans to bring back the F-150 Lightning as an EREV, while Hyundai is also preparing extended-range models for the US market. Hedge fund holders of Stellantis fell to 26 in the second quarter from 32 in the first, with the combined position value nearly halving to $195 million from $424 million, while Ford's holder count held steady at 50 funds and its position value dipped slightly to $1.02 billion from $1.12 billion.

Stellantis NV has signed a memorandum with Roshel Inc., a Canadian armored vehicle manufacturer, outlining steps toward the sale of an idle car factory near Toronto. Roshel, headquartered near the Stellantis plant in Brampton, Ontario, is pursuing a Canadian military contract worth as much as C$4.9 billion ($3.5 billion) to build light utility vehicles, and has told Prime Minister Mark Carney's government it could reactivate the facility quickly if it secures the contract. Roshel chief executive officer Roman Shimonov said his company is the only serious potential buyer for the facility and described the memorandum as the first step in a complicated process. Stellantis spokesperson LouAnn Gosselin confirmed the document was signed and said the automaker believes Roshel represents a strong path to restoring operations at Brampton Assembly and preserving the site's role in Canada's manufacturing sector. The plant employed about 3,000 unionized workers when it was making vehicles, but production stopped in late 2023 and a plan to build the Jeep Compass SUV there was canceled last year after US President Donald Trump announced plans to impose tariffs on foreign-made vehicles; Stellantis is currently in negotiations with Unifor, which represents the plant's workers.