Stellantis to invest $400 mn to make electric vehicles at US plants

Stellantis has announced plans to invest more than $406 million across three factories in Michigan, USA to convert them into production of electric vehicles (EVs) in line with the company's strategic plan dubbed 'Dare Forward 2030'.

A majority of the investment -- $235.5 million -- will go to the company's Sterling Heights Assembly Plant (SHAP), which will be its first US facility to build a fully-electric vehicle, the company said.

SHAP plant will manufacture the Ram 1500 REV --- Stellantis' first battery-electric light-duty pickup truck --- due later this year, as well as the all-new 2025 Ram 1500 Ramcharger, which will sport a greater range. Both vehicles will be built alongside internal combustion engine (ICE) models at SHAP, the company said.

In a statement, Carlos Tavares, CEO of Stellantis, said: "Sterling Heights Assembly has performed an incredible transformation in record time and I want to thank our colleagues for this great achievement."

"Gearing up to build our first-ever Ram electric truck and the range-extended version in Michigan is a meaningful moment of pride for our teams. With these investments supporting both Jeep and Ram, we're adding innovations to our Michigan manufacturing footprint to support a multi-energy approach that is laser-focused on customer demand," he added.

Besides SHAP, the company said it would make invest ~$98 million to retool the Warren Truck Assembly Plant for production of a future electrified Jeep Wagoneer, and ~$73 million at the Dundee Engine Plant for battery tray production and beam machining for the STLA Frame and STLA Large batteries.

Stellantis' has adopted a multi-energy approach spanning products, platforms, manufacturing and supply chain, which it believes allow it to adopt a wide variety of electrification adoption scenarios. In July, the company began to import into Europe the first batch of electric vehicles made by its joint venture with Leapmotor in China.