Stellantis to Produce Dongfeng Cars in France
Dongfeng Motor is set to finalize a deal to produce vehicles at a Stellantis plant located in Rennes, southwest of Paris: If this report from the French media is confirmed, it will mark the first time a Chinese-owned automaker has produced vehicles on a large scale in that country.
According to Franceinfo, the companies had reached an agreement to allocate production capacity to the Asian automaker at a manufacturing complex where a single model is currently produced: the Citroën C5 Aircross compact crossover, in both hybrid and gasoline versions.
That facility has a surplus production capacity of approximately 40,000 units, which will be sufficient to produce a single Dongfeng model, according to the report, which cites as sources individuals involved in the matter, who stated that the agreement will be formalized shortly.
The collaboration between the two companies dates back to 1992, when the DPCA joint venture was established in China to produce Peugeot and Citroën models for the Chinese market. Just a few days ago, the alliance was reaffirmed with the announcement of an agreement to assemble four new Jeep and Peugeot models at a DPCA plant located in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province.
The upgrades to the facility will require an investment of approximately $1.3 billion, which will be financed primarily by Dongfeng.
The Tariff Effect
The report comes amid other initiatives by Chinese automakers seeking not only to avoid tariffs imposed by the European Union but also to mitigate the impact of the conflict in Iran.
Just a few days ago, Elvis Cheng, Xpeng’s director for Northeast Europe, said at a conference organized by the Financial Times that he is in talks with Volkswagen to see if “there is a possibility that we can find a location here in Europe.”
Cheng added that some of the German automaker’s plants are already “a bit outdated” for the Chinese firm’s requirements, so they are not ruling out the possibility of building their own facility.
At the same event, but in a separate interview with Bloomberg, BYD’s executive vice president, Stella Li, revealed that they are in negotiations with Stellantis and other European companies, seeking to utilize disused European assembly lines.
Also earlier this month, Spanish media reported that Geely acquired one of the three industrial buildings in a complex operated by the American automaker Ford in the province of Valencia.
According to the report, the Hangzhou-based automaker will occupy the “Body 3” building—the most modern in the industrial park and one that had been idle—where it will install an assembly line based on the GEA (Global Intelligent Electric Architecture) platform. Using this platform, it will produce a model with internal code 135, which will feature three powertrain options: two hybrid and one fully electric.
The report speculates that the vehicle to be produced will be the EX2, but the possibility of developing a vehicle for Ford based on that same architecture is also being considered.
