Stellantis and China’s Leapmotor eye starting joint car production in Europe, with the initial two models to be built in Spain. The move, which further deepens the tie-up between the Franco-Italian automaker and its Chinese counterpart—from vehicle distribution to joint manufacturing—comes ahead of Stellantis’ May 21 event, where CEO Antonio Filosa will unveil the company’s new business plan to regain market share in North America and Europe and turn around operations.
With the collaboration from Leapmotor, Stellantis is looking to strengthen its EV lineup after it scaled back in-house development earlier in 2026 and booked more than 22 billion euros (USD 25.9 billion) in charges. The deal, which aims to boost European output of electric vehicles, will also help Stellantis fill the underutilised capacity at its factories while giving Leapmotor a fast route to manufacturing in the region.
“This plan… is expected to support production and advance localisation in Europe of world-class manufacturing of electric vehicles at affordable prices. Stellantis aims to deepen our partnership and take one more step towards even greater collaborations in the future,” Filosa said while talking about the Leapmotor tie-up.
The companies are also considering allocating new Leapmotor models to Stellantis’ Madrid plant from 2028 and potentially transferring ownership to the Stellantis-backed joint venture Leapmotor International (LPMI). The arrangement, upon successful completion, will help Leapmotor avoid European Union tariffs on Chinese-made EVs. Talking about Chinese carmakers entering the European market, Xpeng and GAC already produce cars at a Magna factory in Austria.
Stellantis already has a 21% stake in Leapmotor, which it bought in 2023, before forming LPMI, a commercial joint venture through which it sells Leapmotor EVs outside China. The Franco-Italian automaker currently holds 51% of LPMI, with Leapmotor owning the remaining 49%. In Spain, the partners will build Leapmotor’s B10 SUV and a new jointly developed electric C-SUV under the Opel brand.
Opel said the new model, to be developed in less than two years, would be the “first product arising from the contemplated expanded partnership”.
According to the company’s CEO, Florian Huettl, the C-SUV would combine core parts of Leapmotor’s electric architecture and battery technology with Opel’s design and chassis engineering. Stellantis and Leapmotor will also team up on parts purchasing through LPMI to tap into the combined scale and Chinese EV know-how.
“The objective would be to boost price competitiveness by leveraging the Chinese new energy vehicle ecosystem while using European supply chain capabilities to strengthen resilience and accelerate time-to-market for new models,” Stellantis concluded.