Stellantis CFO Natalie Knight led the automaker’s Q3 2023 Shipments and Revenues presentation.
Despite the UAW and Unifor strikes negatively impacting its net revenues for the quarter by approximately €3bn, the firm delivered a 7% year-over-year increase of Q3 net revenues to €45.1bn. This was driven by continued strength in shipments in markets across the world.
Tentative deal reached with Unifor, UAW
Ms Knight said Stellantis took the industrial actions challenges “head on.” Canada’s largest private sector union, Unifor, ended its strike action after reaching a “tentative” deal with the automaker, following the US’ UAW also reaching tentative agreements with the Detroit Three.
She added that the firm was limited in providing additional details “at this time,” out of respect for the remaining steps as the union leadership teams undergo the process of communicating details and putting ratification decisions to their members.
Sub-€20k Citroën ë-C3 variant on the table for 2025
A key detail Ms Knight highlighted was the anticipated launch of the Citroën ë-C3. It is expected to enter the market in Q2 2024.
Priced at €23,300, it was described by CEO Carlos Tavares in August as an affordable EV aimed to “tackle the Chinese invasion of Europe.”
Ms Knight said during the call: “We are first major carmaker to offer a BEV in Europe which is manufactured in Europe at a price below €25k.
"Towards 2025, we will break the next price threshold at just under €20k with our urban variant, calibrated for lower range needs. I know these vehicles will be profitable from day one [for Stellantis].”
The urban variant of the Citroën ë-C3 is tipped to cost around €19,900, with UK pricing yet to be confirmed.
Stellantis partners with China’s Leapmotor
In October, the automaker inked a deal with China start-up Leapmotor. Stellantis will invest €1.5bn to acquire a 20% stake, as well as lead a JV in which Stellantis will hold the exclusive rights to export and manufacture Leapmotor products outside of China.
“We believe this partnership will provide outstanding real-time insights for our core business,” Ms Knight said.
“We expect to be in position – pending regulatory approvals – to start shipping from our new export JV Stellantis International in late 2024. In 2030, we are targeting 500,000 units of annual export volume on top of Leapmotor’s own goal to have at least a million annually in their domestic Chinese market this partnership will play a key role in the Stellantis growth story but at no expense to profitability.”
Middle East and Africa sees strong growth
The Middle East and Africa was Stellantis’ strongest growing segment in Q3, with shipments passing 100k unit mark, more than double from last year’s volume.
The automaker benefitted from its leading position in Algeria, following the successful introduction of Fiat brand.
In Turkey, Peugeot, Opel and Fiat brands also saw an increase in shipments.
Net revenues grew with a 128% increase to reach €3bn, which Ms Knight said was helped by positive net pricing and hyperinflation in Turkey.
