Carmaker Stellantis wants to adopt the low-cost mindset of Chinese electric vehicle (EV) makers, despite the European and United States tariffs that chief executive Carlos Tavares lambasts as anticompetitive.
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But the world’s No 4 automaker must navigate trade barriers on both sides of the Atlantic if it wants to succeed.
Tavares calls tariffs a “trap”, arguing that these will hurt legacy automakers by shielding them from the reality that Chinese rivals make EVs for about a third less.
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The best way to compete is instead to “try to be Chinese ourselves”, Tavares said at a Reuters Events conference in Munich in May.
That belief led Stellantis to purchase a 21 per cent stake in Chinese EV maker Leapmotor last October, creating a joint venture giving Stellantis access to Leapmotor technology and exclusive rights to produce its EVs outside China.
