Overnight Stellantis announced its Dare Forward 2030 plan, and previewed a Jeep EV that’s due to go on sale in 2023.
As part of its new plan, the Franco-Italian-American automaker is aiming to be carbon neutral by 2038, and hopes to achieve a 50 per cent reduction in its carbon footprint by 2030.
To get to its carbon neutral target, Stellantis wants all of its European sales to be pure electric vehicles by 2030. The EU has indicated it will outlaw the sale of new cars with internal combustion engines by 2035.
In the US, where a legislative ban seems unlikely, EV incentives exist in the form of tax breaks at the federal and state level. There Stellantis is aiming for EVs to account for 50 per cent of sales by 2030.
By 2030 the automaker expects to be selling 5 million EVs per year. That will be quite some achievement considering Stellantis sold 5.1 million cars in Europe and North America in 2021.
Today’s big reveal was Jeep’s “first-ever fully electric SUV”, which is due to go on sale globally from early 2023.
It looks to be a small model between the size of the Renegade and Compass. The vehicle unveiled today looks close to production ready with none of the outlandish styling features typically used on show cars — even the alloy wheels seem reasonably sized.
Given this unnamed model’s short development timeframe, it is probably based on an existing Groupe PSA architecture, most likely the Common Modular Platform that serves as the basis for the Citroen C4, Opel Mokka and Peugeot 2008.
All these models are available with a fully electric drivetrain option, as well as traditional internal combustion engines.
Considering its dimensions, this new Jeep is aimed primarily at Europe and will likely be produced there.
The new Jeep is one of 74 battery electric vehicles Stellantis has on the drawing board, 25 of which will be available Stateside.
At present the company offers a number of electric drivetrain options for models aimed at Europe, including the Peugeot 208 and Opel Corsa, but it has yet to launch a dedicated EV.
That will change as the automaker begins using the STLA Small, STLA Medium, STLA Large and STLA Frame platforms, which are all designed around the needs of electric drivetrains.
These architectures are expected to go into production from the middle of the decade, and will enable DS, Alfa Romeo and Lancia to become fully electric brands before the end of the decade.
One of the confirmed EV models for the US is the Ram 1500 BEV pickup. Due in 2024, it will tackle the Chevrolet Silverado EV, Ford F-150 Lightning and GMC Hummer EV in the increasingly crowded electric ute arena.
Although the automaker didn’t provide any further details about the electric pickup, it did issue some new teaser images.
Other initiatives announced today include online sales accounting for one-third of sales by 2030, creating a circular economy business unit, and continuing the company’s “asset-light” approach to China in order to “reduce fixed costs and limit exposure to geopolitical risk”.
