Stellantis announced on Wednesday it would invest EUR130m in the former Opel Eisenach assembly plant in Germany, which currently builds the Opel/Vauxhall Grandland compact SUV, to add production of a BEV successor model which will be built on the new STLA Medium platform. Production is scheduled to begin in the 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,” Stellantis said in a statement.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
The current Grandland line includes ICE powertrains and plug in hybrid variants but no BEVs.
“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 [our] new fully BEV platform, Eisenach plant’s highly skilled workforce will continue to improve the cost and the quality of the vehicles they produce.”
Opened in September 1992 to build the Astra, the Eisenach plant is in the central German state of Thuringia. In 2022 the plant celebrated its 30th anniversary with an open day commemorating cumultative production of 3.7m vehicles.
US Tariffs are shifting - will you react or anticipate?
Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard. Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis.
By GlobalDataThe Eisenach investment is part of the Stellantis Dare Forward 2030 strategic plan. That encompasses “deep emission cuts” to slash CO2 in half by 2030, benchmarking 2021 metrics, and achieving 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 US to be BEVs by the end of the decade; the ambition of doubling net revenue by 2030 (versus 2021) and sustaining double digit adjusted operating income margins throughout the decade.
Stellantis is investing EUR30bn through 2025 in electrification and software to offer a wide range of BEVs.
