GM Increases Investment Into Electrification, Stellantis Promises Four New EVs

Matt Posky
by Matt Posky

There is plenty of electrification news this week, despite the brunt of consumers remaining seemingly disinterested in the automotive segment that’s entirely dependent upon batteries. General Motors recently announced that it would be increasing its EV investments through 2025 to $35 billion, noting that some amount of the funding will also be going toward autonomous vehicle development.

Meanwhile, Stellantis confirmed that it’s planning a quartet of battery-driven automobiles offering more utility than the pint-sized Fiat 500e. Those vehicles aren’t supposed to see assembly until 2024 and there are lingering questions about where the firm plans on building battery plants. But the UILM union has confirmed that the upcoming models are likely to be midsized and built at the company’s Melfi plant in Italy.

“Stellantis announced that Melfi would be the first plant in Italy to get new models, based on post-2022 business plan,” the union said in a statement after reps with the manufacturer in Rome.

According to Reuters, all future production at Melfi will be based on a single upgraded production line. Despite merging lines, the site is supposed to retain its annual production capacity of 400,000 units — though things can always change when decisions don’t need to be made right away.

From Reuters:

UILM’s head, Rocco Palombella, said unions had not received all the answers they wanted as Stellantis was still working on its new business plan.

“But the positive element is that the company has not absolutely called for structural redundancies,” he said after the meeting.

Stellantis Chief Executive Carlos Tavares has said the group would present its business plan late this year or in early 2022.

The automaker has also reportedly not made any concrete decisions on where its third battery plant will be built. Existing sites have already been planned for France and Germany, with the manufacturer musing about whether to keep the third in Europe or opt for the United States.

Speaking of the US of A, General Motors has announced it will be increasing its initial commitment (announced in 2020) toward battery and autonomous development by around 75 percent.

“We are investing aggressively in a comprehensive and highly-integrated plan to make sure that GM leads in all aspects of the transformation to a more sustainable future,” stated GM Chair and CEO Mary Barra. “GM is targeting annual global EV sales of more than 1 million by 2025, and we are increasing our investment to scale faster because we see momentum building in the United States for electrification, along with customer demand for our product portfolio.”

The General has been signaling that it has wanted to get serious about EVs of late and has recently been petitioning the government to pass legislation giving electrically powered vehicles special treatment. In the release, it made mention that it wants to become a global leader in electrification via its Ultium battery platform. There was also mention of GM’s HYDROTEC fuel cells and the commercialization of its Cruise autonomous driving technology. Much of that was left to our imagination, however.

Every automaker wants to become the dominant name in EVs and AVs. General Motors is not different. But one wonders what might have been had the company not abandoned its EV1 pilot program in 1999.

[Image: Michael Urmann/Shutterstock]

Matt Posky
Matt Posky

A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.

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  • Pig_Iron Pig_Iron on Jun 18, 2021

    Communism also created bland, unreliable, unaffordable vehicles, I guess they've relabeled it as Wokeism now. :-/

    • See 1 previous
    • 28-Cars-Later 28-Cars-Later on Jun 18, 2021

      The devil is known by many names.

  • MoDo MoDo on Jun 19, 2021

    One of them will be "the fastest dodge ever" which the rumor mill suggests is the new charger that will be a model S killer and even quicker than the plaid

  • ToolGuy Once again my home did not catch on fire and my fire extinguisher(s) stayed in the closet, unused. I guess I threw my money away on fire extinguishers.(And by fire extinguishers I mean nuclear missiles.)
  • Carson D The UAW has succeeded in organizing a US VW plant before. There's a reason they don't teach history in the schools any longer. People wouldn't make the same mistakes.
  • B-BodyBuick84 Mitsubishi Pajero Sport of course, a 7 seater, 2.4 turbo-diesel I4 BOF SUV with Super-Select 4WD, centre and rear locking diffs standard of course.
  • Corey Lewis Think how dated this 80s design was by 1995!
  • Tassos Jong-iL Communist America Rises!
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