Charles Tavares (pictured above), CEO of the Stellantis automotive group, has once again sounded the alarm about the expansion of Chinese builders already in place in Europe with an ever-growing number of aggressively priced models. The statements, which took place on the sidelines of his speech at CES in Las Vegas, and reported by Automotive newsare very clear and peremptory: “the price difference between European and Chinese cars is significant, if there are no changes to the current situation, middle-class European customers, whose purchasing power is decreasing, they will buy more and more Chinese cars”.
Tavares’ reasoning continues by emphasizing that if the European market remains open for Chinese cars, as it is today (therefore without more significant duties), there will “a terrible fight”. The manufacturers of the Old Continent will have no choice and will have to compete on the same ground as the Chinese ones, which have lower production costs, and this will mean “very painful choices”with reduction of production and the reallocation of factories to countries where costs are lower with a dramatic impact on jobs in Europe.
The Stellantis group at CES 2023 announced the agreement with Archer Aviation, for the production of a eVTOL (in the photo above), i.e. a electric aircraft vertical take-off and landing, with the related investment of 150 million dollars. Stellantis will collaborate with Archer in the construction of the production plant in Covington, Georgia, where, in 2024, production of the Midnight aircraft will begin, which allows a payload of over 454 kg and is capable of carrying four passengers plus a pilot. with a range of 161 km (it is optimized for short distance trips around 32 km).
