The multinational conglomerate Stellantis, with fourteen global automotive brands, controls the remnants of the venerable Chrysler Corporation. This includes Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, and Ram, all of which are eternal challengers within the panoply of the former “Big Three” domestic automakers.
Yet, despite Stellantis’ intentionally provocative positioning, one thing has distinguished it from its home market competitors at General Motors and Ford in recent years. It has not exhibited a clear strategy for delivering pure electric vehicles to American consumers.
It is a characterization disputed by those within the company.
“Some could say we’re late to the party for battery electric vehicles,” said Micky Bly, a four-decade veteran of automotive powertrains who, for the past seven years, has been Stellantis’ senior vice president for propulsion systems. “But we think of it a little differently.”
Stellantis has plenty of brands, but many of them seem to be struggling to stay relevant.
Photo by: InsideEVs
This EV deficiency used to look existentially bad for the group. The recent Trumpian regulatory rollback in our shift toward electrification may have bought Stellantis some time to get its battery plan in order. But if it isn’t taking full advantage of this ill-advised retrenchment, it may still end up in a serious deficit.
What Has Stellantis Been Up To?
General Motors released its limited-production EV1 electric vehicle in the late 1990s, and unveiled its game-changing, affordable, 238-mile-range mass-produced Chevrolet Bolt EV in 2016, and has since made strong fully-electric incursions into nearly every category from CUVs to full-size pickups, SUVs, and even $340,000 ultra-luxury sedans. Discounting the experimental Ford-Edison “Electric Model T” of the 1910s, Ford introduced its limited-production Ranger EV and Focus Electric in the 1990s and 2010s respectively, and its long-range mass-produced Mach-E and F-150 Lightning in the 2020s.
In contrast, until the past year, Stellantis’ American brands’ BEV offerings were limited to 56 TEVans, built on spec, and at an immense loss, for utility companies in the 1990s.
The group’s own historical narrative attempts to explain this absence. “Five years ago, as FCA, we made a strategic decision to double down on plug-in hybrids,” Bly said. “And our mission, especially in the U.S., was to grow and scale what ended up becoming 4xe, which is our market name for our plug-in hybrid.”
The Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid is one of the few electrified Stellantis products that critics seem to love. But it’s at the tail end of a long life cycle and competes in a rapidly shrinking segment, so it’s hardly a growth play.
This propulsion system launched in the Jeep Wrangler for the 2021 model year, and then moved to the Jeep Grand Cherokee in 2022. These vehicles became quite popular within the PHEV category, and the technology was subsequently added to the Pacifica Minivan and Dodge Hornet CUV, though not under the 4xe moniker. Stellantis became the number one seller of plug-in hybrid vehicles in the U.S., and Bly claimed that at one point, the company made three of the best-selling PHEV models in the country. “I thought we did a pretty good job of getting that into the marketplace and spreading that technology out,” he said.
This was the first wave. Then came the merger with PSA and the (unfortunate) Stellantis rebrand. “We said then that our next thrust was going to be in battery electric vehicles for North America,” Bly said, “because we saw the market moving quickly into BEVs. So we went all in with our STLA Large and STLA Frame platforms to create strong BEVs.”
Stellantis STLA Large Platform
The idea came after taking stock of the global market, and the shift, especially during the Biden years, toward governmental initiatives and incentives that strongly favored electric vehicles as a means of combating climate change, as well as limiting other adverse health and environmental effects of tailpipe emissions.
According to Sam Abuelsamid, vice president of market research at Detroit-based automotive consultancy Telemetry, then-Stellantis boss Carlos Tavares implemented this strategy. “Going forward, it was going to build products that would not require it to be out of regulatory compliance anywhere in any of the markets it operates in,” Abuelsamid said.
The Jeep Wrangler 4Xe is one of the most popular plug-in hybrids in America. But it came during an era where Jeep pushed pricing a bit too high, creating a crisis for the brand.
Photo by: Jeep
Botching An EV Rollout
The first two domestically available vehicles built on these BEV platforms were the Dodge Charger Daytona and the Jeep Wagoneer S. Each electric vehicle was aimed directly at the core of its brands’ respective markets—the Dodge as a muscle car, the Jeep as an all-terrain capable SUV.
The rollout of these vehicles was not ideal. Both suffered from a broad range of electronic glitches, quality control issues and recalls. They edged toward production just as the aggressive Russian incursion into Ukraine spiked prices on battery-building materials.
They began to arrive in dealerships just as a petty authoritarian with an insatiable thirst for Big Oil (contributions) and a vindictive and retrograde disdain for electric vehicles took up residence in the White House, again, and eliminated all manner of programs intended to help ease the American transition to a lower-emission future.
The Charger Daytona wanted to win over muscle car and EV fans alike. Neither group seems interested.
Photo by: Patrick George
“Unfortunately, by the time those products started coming to market, a lot of things had shifted,” Abuelsamid said. “And it didn’t help that Stellantis had a lot of challenges with their software, especially on Wagoneer S and Charger Daytona.”
Sales of both vehicles have been quite slow. Bly admitted that uncertainty and added expense in raw materials markets, and the change in the administration, have both had a significant impact.
He also echoed a common, if perhaps not entirely honest, industry line that buyer perception has somehow shifted against electric vehicles—as if that took place in a vacuum separate from these larger global and domestic dynamics, as well as relentless Long Live the V8 Burnout messaging from Stellantis brands like Dodge and Ram.
The Jeep Wagoneer S is the brand’s first American-market EV. But it, too, received a lukewarm reaction when it launched last year.
Photo by: Mack Hogan/InsideEVs
“Consumer opinion has changed a little bit on BEVs,” Bly said. “And consumer choice is dominant.”
These shifts, whether real or constructed, have seemingly provided Stellantis with the excuses needed to kick its EV plans into the next decade, or beyond.
“Multi-Energy” and the Myth of “Consumer Choice”
Stellantis’ delayed and botched launch of EVs has coincided with a sea change in its domestic powertrain strategy, one that is almost starting to feel like an ahistorical inevitability. Like its competitors at GM and Ford, but more pronounced, it entails leaning back much more on internal combustion than once expected.
This includes discussions of offering ICE power in its Wagoneer S and forthcoming Jeep Recon EVs. And, perhaps more spectacularly, the recently announced reincorporation into Stellantis’ domestic lineups of guzzly Hemi V8s, which are reentering production shortly after being phased out.
Stellantis calls this strategy “Multi-Energy.” This means that its current and forthcoming vehicles are designed to be adaptable and powertrain agnostic, allowing it to install gasoline, hybrid, plug-in hybrid, battery electric or even other powertrain options into the same platform.
This provides the company with the capability to respond to market, political and consumer volatility with whatever motivational force garners the most interest, demand and sales. And profits.
Ram was supposed to launch an all-electric pickup. But the company recently axed the project, focusing instead on bringing back V8 trucks and launching its own Extended Range Electric Vehicle (EREV), now called the Ram 1500 REV.
Some of this is the result, or perhaps the cause, of a shift in Stellantis’ executive makeup, as Antonio Filosa ascended from head of Stellantis in the Americas to global CEO. “Antonio was leading the North American activity, so he had a very unique view on how to reinvigorate the profitability, the volume, and the share in North America,” Bly said, referring to the strategy of providing buyers with a broader range of powertrain options.
However, all of these coded paeans to “consumer choice” constitute a specious argument. They ignore the billions of dollars that have been poured into anti-EV and pro-fossil-fuel propaganda, not in the least by the domestic auto companies themselves, who each made seven-figure donations toward electing a climate denier as president. They also ignore the higher profits made by these automakers in selling gas-powered cars, and the enhanced dealer margins garnered from servicing them.
Furthermore, they undermine Stellantis’ actual electrification strategy, which has been, thus far, to offer one mediocre and problematic EV per brand, attempt to sell it at a price divorced from consumer expectations, and bury its potential in marketing messages that broadly privilege petroleum-powered vehicles.
Photo by: Jeep
Abuelsamid offers a broader and perhaps more rational perspective. “Traditionally, the biggest barrier to EV adoption has been price—EVs carry a price premium at purchase, as well as in the availability of charging and the time to charge,” Abuelsamid said. “But now, politics has become probably as big or bigger a barrier than any of that. And for those for whom politics is the reason, I don’t think it’s grounded in reality.”
Finally, they ignore the very important realm of consumer inertia. If companies don’t offer compelling reasons for, and educate potential buyers on, why they should shift their perceptions and perspective, people will generally stick with what they know.
“Especially in the early stages of adoption for something like this, if you’re going to convince people to change over from something they’ve been using for a century to a completely different technology, you’ve gotta be willing to stand behind it,” Abuelsamid said.
Tearing Down the Future for a Mediocre Now?
While Bly’s team had, for the past few years, predicted that the powertrain market split in America in 2030 would be “50% internal combustion, 50% low emissions vehicles—plugins or BEVs,” he said that he now believes that “it [LEV adoption] is going to be a lot softer than that. And we’re executing toward that now.”
Stellantis’ strategy for the Americas certainly provides it with a few additional, immediate, lower-cost and profitable options compared with rivals who have gone further in on dedicated electric vehicle platforms.
Ducking out of pursuing advanced powertrain and driver assistance technologies—including the group’s very recent decisions to abandon its high-range Ram Rev all-electric full-size pickup, and its Level 3 autonomy program—will help stanch the losses and declining sales that local Stellantis brands have been posting for years. For right now.
But if Stellantis pauses development now, in a rapidly changing vehicular landscape, it begs the question about what happens in the near future, and in the rest of the world.
“I think the industry recognizes that, longer term, electrification is the direction they need to go. Certainly outside of the United States, they absolutely need to go electric,” Abuelsamid said. “That’s not going to change. China is not going to change. Europe may slow down a little bit, but they’re not going to change. If manufacturers want to participate in any market outside of the United States, they have to have electrification as a major part of their portfolio.”
Stellantis initially said the current-generation Fiat 500 would only be available as an EV. Now, the company is scrambling to launch a hybrid version years into production.
Photo by: Fiat
Bly posited some disagreement with this statement, noting that Europe and Asia are not the only global markets. “If you look at the rest of the world, it’s clear ICE for a long time,” he said. “If you look at South America, Asia, India, Africa, the Middle East… it’s going to be heavily ICE penetration.”
Perhaps Stellantis’ strategy is predicated on burning as much fossil fuel, wherever it can, for as long as it can. It’s certainly trying this in the U.S. with its return to Hemi V8 production for many of its vehicles, including the now EV-less Ram pickup, and the formerly EV-only Challenger coupe and its forthcoming Charger sedan sibling.
The charger is already available with an inline-six gas engine. But recent rumors suggest a V-8 version is now in development.
Photo by: Dodge
Notably, that plan has already run into some hiccups domestically.
For example, Stellantis’ recently announced reintroduction of its high-output Durango Hellcat 392 SUV may not be compliant in the 17 states that adhere to the California Air Resources Board (CARB) emissions standards–states, which, combined, represent about 40% of the overall U.S. new vehicle market. So, as of this writing, that vehicle won’t be eligible for sale in much of the West Coast, the Northeast, the Mountain West or even parts of the Midwest. Other such reintroductions could face a similar peril if the federal attempt to rescind CARB’s ability to set its own emissions rules fails.
“Hemi Everything” also doesn’t solve the long-term, market-driven need to create cost-effective electrified vehicles. “Automakers really need to move aggressively to get lower-cost EVs into the marketplace,” Abuelsamid says. Competitors like Ford and GM, as well as startups like Slate, are all working aggressively toward this goal. We have yet to hear of such a program at Stellantis’ domestic brands.
The purportedly flexible “Multi-Energy” strategy also leaves Stellantis with an intricate, expensive, and potentially convoluted series of offerings from a production and retail standpoint.
“In the near term, the inclusion of so many powertrain options adds to their product development costs and complexity,” Abuelsamid said. “Customers are going to be faced with the tyranny of choice at the dealer. It’s like walking down the grocery store aisle and trying to figure out which of 32 varieties of Cheerios you want today.”
While Dodge does offer a plug-in version of its Hornet crossover, InsideEVs staff writer Kevin Williams was not impressed by it.
Photo by: InsideEVs
(Despite repeated requests, Stellantis would not provide commentary on its manufacturing or retail distribution plans for its broad range of powertrains, or how flexible these plans will be in reacting to market forces.)
Even Bly affirmed the somewhat overwhelming nature of the current predicament. “If I didn’t have all of the demands of these wonderful, beautiful brands and their powertrains, I’d be a lot less busy,” he says. “But, yes, some of my peers in the marketplace may have a few hours more sleep than me. Let’s just say that.”
Still, Stellantis recognizes the impermanence of the current situation. “I wouldn’t call anything status quo in this world,” Bly said. “There could be another transition between three and five years from now on the policy side of the country.”
Should this happen, I wonder how prepared Stellantis will be.
Brett Berk is a freelance automotive writer based in New York. He has driven and reviewed thousands of cars for Car and Driver and Road & Track, where he is a contributing editor. He has also written for Architectural Digest, Billboard, ELLE Decor, Esquire, GQ, Travel + Leisure and Vanity Fair.
