{"id":13818,"date":"2026-05-19T09:27:06","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T09:27:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/13818\/"},"modified":"2026-05-19T09:27:06","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T09:27:06","slug":"stellantis-to-build-17500-small-ev-model-at-italian-plant-from-2028","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/13818\/","title":{"rendered":"Stellantis to Build $17,500 Small EV Model at Italian Plant From 2028"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stellantis<\/a>\u00a0on Tuesday announced the launch of a new small, low-cost category of fully EVs to revive Europe\u2019s shrinking entry-level car segment, with production of the affordable \u201cE-Car\u201d set to begin in 2028 at its Pomigliano d\u2019Arco plant in Italy.<\/p>\n

The compact electric vehicle will carry a price tag of around 15,000 euros ($17,500), according to a source close to the matter cited by\u00a0Reuters.<\/p>\n

The announcement represents the first major product commitment under\u00a0Stellantis<\/a>\u00a0CEO Antonio Filosa\u2019s emerging strategic framework \u2014 and arrives just three days before Filosa presents his first formal strategic plan on May 21 at the automaker\u2019s US headquarters in Auburn Hills, Michigan.<\/p>\n

The Fiat<\/a>, Opel<\/a>, and Citroen<\/a> owner said production of the affordable, compact, and fully electric vehicle could deliver \u201csignificant\u201d volumes from the Italian facility.<\/p>\n

The E-Car Strategic Framing<\/p>\n

Stellantis<\/a>\u00a0framed the E-Car project around the strategic narrative of reviving the European small-car segment, which has experienced what the company describes as \u201cunprecedented contraction\u201d in recent years.<\/p>\n

The \u201cE\u201d in E-Car stands for European, Emotion, Electric, and Environmental friendliness \u2014 a four-letter framework designed to position the model as the embodiment of European industrial revival rather than as a generic affordable EV competitor.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe E-Car is a concept that finds its natural match in the small car success that runs deep in our European Stellantis DNA,\u201d Filosa said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur customers are calling for a revival of small, stylish vehicles, proudly produced in Europe, which are also affordable and environmentally friendly. Stellantis is answering their call with exciting new models for multiple brands. Production is expected to start in 2028 in our Pomigliano (Italy) plant.\u201d<\/p>\n

The phrase \u201cexciting new models for multiple brands\u201d suggests the E-Car platform will underpin variants across\u00a0Stellantis\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0European brand portfolio \u2014 likely including Fiat<\/a>, Opel<\/a>, Citroen<\/a>, Peugeot<\/a>, and potentially DS Automobiles.<\/p>\n

The European Sales Decline Context<\/p>\n

The E-Car announcement comes as\u00a0Stellantis<\/a>\u00a0confronts a structural decline in its European market position.<\/p>\n

In 2019, the combined European sales of PSA and FCA \u2014 the two groups that merged to form\u00a0Stellantis<\/a>\u00a0in January 2021 \u2014 totaled 3,413,829 units.<\/p>\n

Stellantis\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0full-year 2025 European sales fell to 1,892,556 units \u2014 representing a 45% decline from the combined pre-merger 2019 baseline.<\/p>\n

The European Commission has formally recognized the high potential of the small affordable car segment for its capacity to boost European design and manufacturing jobs while supporting the wider adoption of full electric vehicles for everyday, city-centric mobility.<\/p>\n

The E-Car\u2019s market positioning \u2014 designed for \u201cconvenient, everyday, city-centric mobility\u201d \u2014 addresses the segment that has historically anchored European car ownership for entry-level buyers, urban families, and second-vehicle purchasers.<\/p>\n

The Pomigliano d\u2019Arco Plant<\/p>\n

The Pomigliano d\u2019Arco plant, located near Naples in Italy\u2019s Campania region, has been one of\u00a0Stellantis\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0most strategically important European manufacturing facilities since the original FCA-era investment in small-car production.<\/p>\n

The plant has historically produced the Fiat Panda \u2014 a vehicle that has anchored European small-car sales for decades \u2014 and is now being repositioned as the manufacturing hub for\u00a0Stellantis\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0most affordable next-generation EV.<\/p>\n

The \u201cKei Car for Europe\u201d Framing<\/p>\n

Stellantis<\/a>\u00a0Chairman John Elkann and former Renault Group<\/a> CEO Luca de Meo have both urged the European Union to adopt a new class of small cars that would cost less to develop \u2014 potentially with different safety regulations and reduced size and power envelopes.<\/p>\n

De Meo has explicitly framed the proposed segment as a \u201ckei car for Europe\u201d \u2014 a nod to Japan\u2019s class of small, limited-displacement cars that have served as a structural pillar of Japanese urban mobility for decades.<\/p>\n

Stellantis<\/a>\u00a0has not yet specified whether the E-Car will fall within the standard European passenger car class or the proposed new smaller-vehicle category \u2014 leaving meaningful uncertainty about the model\u2019s final regulatory framework, safety equipment requirements, and pricing structure.<\/p>\n

The company has also not disclosed key operational details about the E-Car program, including specific battery technology choices, drivetrain configuration, expected production volumes at Pomigliano, the specific brand or brands that will market the model, or the timing of the European Commission\u2019s potential adoption of a \u201ckei car for Europe\u201d regulatory framework that could lower development costs.<\/p>\n

The Competitive Landscape<\/p>\n

If the E-Car launches as a minicar at the indicated 15,000-euro price point, it would face an increasingly crowded European affordable-EV segment.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Renault<\/a>\u00a0Twingo \u2014 built in Slovenia \u2014 starts at less than \u20ac20,000 and is expected to anchor the segment when its electric variant launches in 2026.<\/p>\n

Dacia<\/a> and Nissan<\/a> are both developing variants based on the Renault Ampere platform.<\/p>\n

Volkswagen<\/a> will be launching the ID.1 electric minicar in 2027 \u2014 providing direct competition at the volume European entry-level segment.<\/p>\n

The arrival of\u00a0Stellantis\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0E-Car in 2028 would slot in approximately one year after the Volkswagen ID.1 launch and two years after the Renault Twingo electric debut \u2014 meaning\u00a0Stellantis<\/a>\u00a0faces structural late-mover risk in the segment it is positioning itself to revive.<\/p>\n

The Partnership Approach<\/p>\n

Stellantis<\/a>\u00a0stated the E-Car models will be powered by world-class battery electric vehicle technologies developed \u201cwith selected partners to boost affordability and achieve an accelerated time-to-market.\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u201cselected partners\u201d framing aligns with\u00a0Stellantis\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0broader partnership-driven approach to EV development \u2014 which has included the Chinese partnership with Leapmotor under the LPMI joint venture and potential discussions with Chinese automakers about investing in\u00a0Stellantis\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0European factories.<\/p>\n

The Leapmotor partnership has already produced commercial results in the European entry-level segment \u2014 with the Leapmotor T03 city car and C10 SUV being distributed through\u00a0Stellantis\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0European dealer network under the LPMI structure.<\/p>\n

The LPMI joint venture was launched in mid-2024 as a 51\/49\u00a0Stellantis<\/a>-led structure with exclusive rights for the sale and manufacturing of Leapmotor products outside Greater China.<\/p>\n

Stellantis<\/a>\u00a0became Leapmotor<\/a>\u2018s single largest shareholder in October 2023 with an approximately 21% stake, which has since been diluted to approximately 19%.<\/p>\n

The Chinese Manufacturing Pressure<\/p>\n

The E-Car announcement comes as\u00a0Stellantis<\/a>\u00a0faces intensifying pressure from Chinese automakers seeking to acquire European manufacturing capacity.<\/p>\n

BYD<\/a>\u00a0Executive VP Stella Li disclosed last week that the world\u2019s largest seller of electric vehicles is in talks with\u00a0Stellantis<\/a>\u00a0and other European automakers about acquiring underutilized factories across the continent.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are talking to not only Stellantis, we\u2019re talking to other companies too,\u201d Li told\u00a0Bloomberg<\/a>\u00a0on the sidelines of the Financial Times Future of the Car conference in London last week.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are looking for any available plant in Europe because we do want to utilize this kind of spare capacity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stellantis<\/a>\u00a0has reportedly been in talks with\u00a0Dongfeng<\/a>, Xiaomi, and\u00a0XPeng<\/a>\u00a0about investing in its European factories \u2014 with Cassino and Rennes cited as possible targets.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, Chinese state-owned Hongqi<\/a> was reported to be in talks to produce cars in Spain through a\u00a0Stellantis<\/a> plant, with negotiations allegedly held through Leapmotor \u2014 in which Hongqi\u2019s parent FAW Group also holds a stake.<\/p>\n

The Existing Capacity Restructuring<\/p>\n

Stellantis<\/a>\u00a0has already taken concrete actions to restructure its European manufacturing footprint amid the broader contraction.<\/p>\n

Under a deal with unions, the Poissy plant in France will stop making cars around 2028 \u2014 coinciding with the E-Car production start at Pomigliano.<\/p>\n

Leapmotor will take over an assembly plant in Madrid and absorb a percentage of capacity at the Zaragoza, Spain factory \u2014 with\u00a0Stellantis<\/a>\u00a0and Leapmotor reportedly discussing the potential transfer of the Villaverde plant\u2019s ownership to LPMI\u2019s Spanish subsidiary.<\/p>\n

The combined restructuring effectively reallocates\u00a0Stellantis\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0European production capacity from underutilized facilities toward more focused, partner-backed operations \u2014 while concentrating new investment at strategically important plants like Pomigliano for the E-Car program.<\/p>\n

The May 21 Strategic Plan Context<\/p>\n

The E-Car announcement positions\u00a0Stellantis<\/a>\u00a0CEO Antonio Filosa to deliver his first strategic plan on May 21 at the company\u2019s US headquarters in Auburn Hills, Michigan.<\/p>\n

The Auburn Hills location signals Filosa\u2019s emphasis on\u00a0Stellantis\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0largest profit pool \u2014 North America, where the company sells high-margin full-size Ram pickups and Jeep<\/a> SUVs with relatively limited emissions or fuel-economy constraints compared with Europe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stellantis\u00a0on Tuesday announced the launch of a new small, low-cost category of fully EVs to revive Europe\u2019s shrinking…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13819,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[103,2096],"class_list":["post-13818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-stellantis","tag-stellantis","tag-top"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13818"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13818\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}