Stellantis Invests €130 Million in Eisenach Assembly Plant in Germany for Electric Opel Grandland Successor

• New Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) production on the STLA Medium platform set to launch in second half of 2024

• Plant allocation supports Opel’s bold commitment to fully electric lineup by 2028
• Current Eisenach production includes Opel Grandland plug-in electric hybrid

• Electrification of Stellantis products supports goals of Dare Forward 2030 strategic plan

 Florian Huettl Opel & Vauxhall Chief Executive Officer

Stellantis announced today it will invest over €130 million in the Eisenach Assembly Plant in Germany, producer of the Opel Grandland compact SUV, to add production of BEV successor vehicle that will be built on all-new STLA Medium platform. Production of new BEV is scheduled to begin in second half of 2024.

Adding a BEV to Eisenach’s output supports Opel’s bold commitment to a fully electric product lineup by 2028 in Europe. Opel Grandland currently produced at Eisenach includes also plug-in hybrid variants.

“Eisenach, our most compact plant in Germany, has demonstrated a strong drive in quality improvements,” said Arnaud Deboeuf, Stellantis Chief Manufacturing Officer.  “With this allocation of Stellantis’ new fully BEV platform, STLA Medium, Eisenach plant’s highly skilled workforce will continue to improve the cost and the quality of the vehicles they produce to delight our customers.”

“We have been building top-quality vehicles here in Thuringia for 31 years and improved our competitiveness continuously. We will stay on this clear path with the electric successor to Opel Grandland,” said Florian Huettl, Opel CEO. “This decision is another important step for Opel on the way to the declared goal of being a purely electric brand in Europe by 2028.”

“At Stellantis, ‘We Win Together’ is a core value and this announcement for Eisenach demonstrates that value in action,” said Xavier Chereau, Chairman of the Opel Supervisory Board and Chief Human Resources & Transformation Officer at Stellantis. “A focus on improving quality and costs from Eisenach management and employees, combined with the input and social dialogue with the German union representatives, help define the future.”

“Thuringia is an automotive location with a great tradition that is currently making the transition to electromobility at top speed,” Thuringia Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow said. “Against this background, I am particularly pleased that Opel is playing a decisive role here and will be producing a future-proof model range in Eisenach.”

Opened in September 1992 with production of Opel Astra, Eisenach Assembly Plant is in the state of Thuringia, central Germany. 

In 2022 plant celebrated its 30th anniversary with an Open Day event that commemorated production of 3.7 million vehicles.

Eisenach investment is a key step in meeting the commitments of the Dare Forward 2030 strategic plan, which is led by deep emission cuts to slash CO2 in half by 2030, benchmarking 2021 metrics, and achieve carbon net zero by 2038 with single digit percentage compensation of the remaining emissions. Core targets for Dare Forward 2030 also include 100% of passenger car sales in Europe and 50% of passenger car and light-duty truck sales in the United States to be BEVs by the end of the decade; the ambition of doubling Net Revenues by 2030 (versus 2021) and sustaining double-digit Adjusted Operating Income margins throughout the decade; and the aim to become number one in customer satisfaction for products and services in every market by 2030.

Stellantis is investing more than €30 billion through 2025 in electrification and software to deliver BEVs that meet customer demands.

Current models from Eisenach: Opel Grandland and Opel Grandland GSe

Opel Grandland from Eisenach has made a name for itself in the compact SUV segment. Sporty and elegant, intuitive to operable and equipped with innovative technologies, it inspires customers. With the fully digital Pure Panel, it offers a new kind of cockpit experience. In addition, Opel Grandland is equipped with further top technologies and assistance systems that customers have previously only been familiar with from higher vehicle classes. First and foremost is the adaptive IntelliLux LED Pixel light with a total of 168 LED elements. There is also Night Vision: system that detects pedestrians and animals in the dark at a distance of up to 100 meters and actively warns the driver. 

Opel SUV proudly wears new face of brand - Opel Vizor. Customers have a choice of highly efficient combustion engine and plug-in hybrid variants. Top model is the sporty Opel Grandland GSe with electric all-wheel drive.

Opel Grandland GSe with electric all-wheel drive

Stellantis Targets ~€20 Billion in Incremental Annual Revenues by 2030 Driven by Software-Enabled Vehicles

• Approximately €4 billion in annual revenues by 2026 and ~€20 billion by 2030, generated by software-enabled product offerings and subscriptions
• More than €30 billion of investments planned through 2025 to execute software and electrification transformation
• 34 million monetizable connected cars expected by 2030, with a majority of all new vehicles to be fully over-the-air updatable by 2024
• Three all-new AI-powered technology platforms to be deployed at scale, starting in 2024: STLA Brain, STLA SmartCockpit, and STLA AutoDrive
• Strategic partnerships with leading companies, including BMW, Foxconn, and Waymo, continue to drive innovation, efficiency and shared know-how with Stellantis experts
• 4,500 software engineers by 2024, not including partnerships, supported by a dedicated Software Academy

Stellantis N.V. (NYSE / MTA / Euronext Paris: STLA) mapped out its software strategy to deploy next-generation tech platforms, building on existing connected vehicle capabilities to transform how customers interact with their vehicles, and to generate approximately €20 billion in incremental annual revenues by 2030.

This transformation will move Stellantis’ vehicles from today’s dedicated electronic architectures to an open software-defined platform that seamlessly integrates with customers’ digital lives. It greatly expands the options customers have to add innovative features and services via regular over-the-air (OTA) updates keeping vehicles fresh, exciting and updated years after they have been built.

“Our electrification and software strategies will support the shift to become a sustainable mobility tech company to lead the pack, leveraging the associated business growth with over-the-air features and services, and delivering the best experience to our customers,” said Carlos Tavares, Stellantis CEO. “With the three all-new AI-powered technology platforms to arrive in 2024, deployed across the four STLA vehicle platforms, we will leverage the speed and agility associated with the de-coupling of hardware and software cycles.”

Stellantis plans to invest more than €30 billion through 2025 to execute its software and electrification transformation.

Stellantis software strategy works hand-in-hand with the Company’s vehicle electrification plans, detailed at EV Day in July 2021, which targets that more than 70 percent of its vehicle sales in Europe and more than 40 percent of vehicle sales in the United States will be low emission vehicles (LEV) by 2030. Each of the Company’s 14 iconic brands is committed to offering best-in-class fully electrified solutions.

Additional Strategic Partnership Formed

Foxconn

In addition to the closing of Mobile Drive planned for December 31, 2021, the new non-binding memorandum of understanding signed with Foxconn aims at designing a family of purpose-built micro-controllers to support Stellantis and third-party customers. The partnership is intended to develop four families of chips that will cover over 80 percent of the Company’s micro-controllers’ needs, helping to greatly simplify the supply chain. Adoption and installation of products into Stellantis vehicles is targeted by 2024.

Waymo

Stellantis also continues its dedicated projects with Waymo. As Chrysler Pacifica Hybrids equipped with the Waymo Driver provide thousands of fully autonomous rides in Phoenix, Arizona (USA), Stellantis and Waymo have now expanded their partnership to local delivery services. Building on Stellantis’ leadership in light commercial vehicles and investment in electrification, the partners are collaborating on work streams focused on commercial development. Engineering teams will get their hands on Stellantis prototypes in 2022.

Fast-Growing, Software-Enabled Business

• Stellantis will grow its software and connected services business through five key pillars:
• Services and Subscriptions
• Features On Demand
• Data as a Service and Fleet Services
• Vehicle Pricing and Resale Value
• Conquests, Service Retention and Cross-Selling

Today, Stellantis has 12 million monetizable connected cars globally. By 2026, this is expected to grow to 26 million vehicles and generate approximately €4 billion in revenues and by 2030, it will reach 34 million vehicles and approximately €20 billion in annual revenues. Monetizable is defined as the vehicle’s first five years of life.

Leveraging its data collection capabilities, in 2022, Stellantis will launch a usage-based insurance program offered through the captive finance arms in Europe and North America, with the intent to expand globally.

Three New Tech Platforms Coming in 2024

Launching in 2024, the three new platforms will be deployed, at scale, across the four vehicle platforms of Stellantis over the following two years.

 

Heart of the transformation to customer-centric services is the new electrical/electronic (E/E) and software architecture, STLA Brain.

STLA Brain is fully OTA capable, with 30 modules addressed, versus 10 today, making it highly flexible. It is a service-oriented architecture fully integrated with the cloud that connects electronic control units within the vehicle with the vehicle’s central high performing computer (HPC) via a high-speed data bus. It breaks today’s bond between hardware and software generations, enabling software developers to create and update features and services quickly without waiting for a new hardware launch. These OTA updates dramatically reduce costs for both the customers and Stellantis, simplify maintenance for the user and sustain vehicle residual values.

STLA SmartCockpit, built on top of STLA Brain, will seamlessly integrate with the digital lives of vehicle occupants to create a customizable third living space. Studies show that customers spend an average of four years of their lives in their vehicles and this is only increasing.

STLA SmartCockpit, powered by the Mobile Drive joint venture between Stellantis and Foxconn, delivers AI-based applications such as navigation, voice assistance, e-commerce marketplace and payment services.

STLA AutoDrive, developed in partnership with BMW, will offer Level 2, Level 2+ and Level 3 autonomous driving capabilities and will be continuously upgraded through OTA updates.

Magnifying the Customer Experience of the 14 Brands

Through software and on-demand features, Stellantis is providing customers with the ability to tailor their vehicles to individual needs and desires through OTA updates, further increasing the unique qualities of the varied brands within Stellantis and strengthening the bond between the vehicle and driver.

Year to date, Stellantis has delivered more than 6 million over-the-air updates to its vehicles, and intends to offer at least quarterly releases by 2026.

 Today, Stellantis’ connected vehicles provide more than three trillion data points, generating timely, actionable insights. Stellantis engineers are using this information to shorten the vehicle continuous improvement loop, improving customer satisfaction, while generating €1.1 billion in efficiencies by 2030.

Each of Stellantis’ brands are focused on using software to the fullest benefit of its customers, embodied in their individual commitments.

 Talent and Efficiency Make the Difference

To support this transformation, Stellantis is creating a software and data academy to retrain more than 1,000 internal engineers in multiple roles and develop its software community.

Company is also hiring top software and AI talent from technology and other industries globally.

By 2024, Stellantis targets having 4,500 efficiency-driven software engineers, creating talent hubs around the globe. Those engineers will ensure the perfect execution of Stellantis’ software ambitions and operate within the ecosystem created by Stellantis partnerships.