There is a phrase that says that “if you can’t beat the enemy, join him”, and Stellantis took it very seriously, because in its search for strategies to ensure that the arrival of Chinese cars affects it as little as possible, decided to manufacture Chinese cars in Europe taking advantage of its alliance with Leapmotor, of which Stellantis maintains a 51% participation.
With this Eurasian marriage, Stellantis was already ahead, but by launching production with Leapmotor in one of its European plants, they stepped on the accelerator even more, all under the backdrop of the trade war between China and Europe and the upcoming entry into force of the increase in tariffs on the Asian giant by the European Union, tariffs from which these models conceived by Stellantis in the Old Continent will be saved.
The agreement grants exclusive rights to the conglomerate to manufacture, export and sell the firm’s electric models outside China, with Europe as the epicenter. The manufacturing of the first electric car of this joint venture has already begun at the Polish Tychy plant, where the Alfa Romeo Junior is also manufactured.
The first car that will be released at this plant will be the electric urban Leapmotor T03. In fact, several units of this model left the production lines last week, and serial production is scheduled to begin next September. In this plant the SUV A12which will begin assembly in the first quarter of 2025.
Furthermore, in this industrial complex Components will be manufactured for these electric models. The Leapmotor T03 will begin to be sold at the end of the year in nine European markets, including Spain, Germany, France and Italy.
The Polish Tychy plant will allow the manufacturing cost of each car at this plant to fluctuate between 400 and 500 euros, similar to what it costs in China. Added to this is that, as it is not imported to Europe from China, will not be burdened with tariffs, either with the current 10% or the new ones proposed by Europe to compete more equally with Chinese brands.
The T03 will be between 20,000 and 26,000 euros depending on the market: It is a 3.6 meter long urban vehicle, equipped with a 109 horsepower electric motor, powered by a 36 kWh capacity battery pack, which promises an autonomy of 280 kilometers per recharge.
