MILAN — Stellantis softened up consumers ahead of its electrification approach event on Thursday by hinting that it had a better-than-expected start to 2021 no matter a chip shortage that has hit automakers worldwide.

The company talked about its first-half margins on adjusted working earnings had been anticipated to exceed an annual purpose of between 5.5 p.c and 7.5 p.c.

Constructive pricing and product mix helped it to anticipate a “strong margin effectivity” throughout the first half, Stellantis talked about in a statement ahead of its “EV Day 2021” approach event.

“The worldwide Stellantis group has moreover responded strongly to amount constraints attributable to semiconductor shortages, implementing very environment friendly worth administration measures,” the automaker talked about.

Stellantis, which has 14 producers along with Peugeot, Opel, Jeep, Chrysler, Ram and Maserati, faces an investor group longing for a freeway map to an electrified lineup to rival Tesla.

Stellantis talked about that, based on earlier forecasts, it anticipated a unfavorable industrial free cash flow into throughout the first half, moreover attributable to the unfavorable have an effect on of lower than deliberate manufacturing volumes.

It added, nonetheless, that synergies had been properly on observe to exceed the first 12 months’s purpose, serving to to “materially contribute to the whole 12 months cash flow into effectivity, which stays to be anticipated to be constructive.”

Formed in January by the merger of Fiat Chrysler Vehicles and PSA Group, Stellantis has promised larger than 5 billion euros ($5.9 billion) in annual synergies.

All through its “EV Day 2021,” Stellantis will disclose vital investments in electrification know-how and associated software program program as a result of it objectives to be an commerce front-runner.

In April, CEO Carlos Tavares talked about it’s going to present low-emission variations — each battery or hybrid electrical — of just about all of its European fashions by 2025, and they should make up 70 p.c of European product sales and 35 p.c of U.S. product sales by 2030.