MILAN — Stellantis will construct new full-electric flagship fashions for the DS and Opel/Vauxhall manufacturers beginning in 2024, in line with paperwork seen by Automotive Information Europe, because the group reshuffles mannequin allocations for its European factories.
The fashions will probably be in-built Melfi, southern Italy.
Manufacturing is about to begin by late 2024 for the DS mannequin, internally code-named D85 and doubtlessly referred to as DS 9 Crossback, requests for quotations (RFQs) to suppliers present.
The mannequin is predicted to be a midsize five-door fastback with a better seating place comparable in proportions to the 4800 mm-long Citroen C5 X in-built China.
Stellantis, which was shaped in January 2021 after the merger of PSA Group and Fiat Chrysler Vehicles, has 24 meeting vegetation within the European area, together with one in Russia.
CEO Carlos Tavares pledged through the merger course of to not shut factories and the Opel/DS flagships will assist to spice up capability use of factories in Italy.
The vehicles will probably be based mostly on a brand new structure referred to as STLA Medium. Designed for premium automobiles and outlined by Stellantis as “BEV by design,” which means that it was conceived primarily for battery powered automobiles however may additionally underpin inside combustion variants in markets and areas that will require it.
Automobiles based mostly on STLA Medium will probably be 4350 to 5000 mm lengthy, home battery packs of 87 to 104 kilowatt-hours and provide a spread as much as 700 km (440 miles), the corporate stated final yr in its EV Day presentation.
In asserting new funding for Melfi in June 2021, Stellantis stated 4 new fashions being allotted there will probably be full electrical.
New Lancia, DS fashions
The opposite two fashions deliberate for Melfi are a full-electric alternative for the compact DS 7 Crossback SUV, with the inner code title of D74, in late 2025; and a sibling mannequin for Lancia with the code title L74 that’s prone to be referred to as Aurelia, Lancia CEO Luca Napolitano informed ANE final yr.
In line with paperwork, Stellantis will construct a median of 90,000 items per yr of the 4 full-electric fashions between 2026 and 2029 at Melfi.
That may probably imply that further merchandise, in addition to continued manufacturing of present inside combustion fashions, can be wanted to fill the manufacturing unit’s put in capability of 400,000 items a yr.
In an emailed assertion, a Stellantis spokesman stated that “Melfi in 2024 will start manufacturing of 4 new electrical multi-brand fashions and a devoted meeting line for battery packs.”
The spokesman declined to determine the manufacturers and the fashions to be in-built Melfi, in addition to different manufacturing allocations in Europe.
Melfi presently builds the Fiat 500X small SUV, launched in 2014, in addition to the Jeep Renegade (additionally launched in 2014) and Compass, launched in 2016. Some Renegade manufacturing is exported to North America.
Manufacturing at Melfi, which has 6,700 workers, decreased by 29 p.c in 2021 to 163,646 automobiles, lower than half of the 2018 output of 339,865. In recent times, Melfi manufacturing peaked at 393,000 items in 2015, figures from FIM-CISL union present.
Whereas Opel and DS fashions will transfer to Italy, different fashions from the previous FCA will probably be constructed outdoors of the nation. In line with provider sources, they embody:
- The following Jeep Renegade, due in 2025, will probably be in-built Spain.
- A successor to the Fiat Panda minicar (prolonged till 2026 on the Pomigliano, southern Italy) is predicted to be constructed both in Kragujevac, Serbia or Trnava, Czech Republic.
- The following-generation Lancia Ypsilon, the model’s first subsequent new product in additional than a decade, will probably be constructed beginning in 2024 in Zaragoza, Spain. The present Ypsilon, launched in 2011, is in-built Tychy, Poland.