“One of the challenges, if not the biggest one we have in the electrification road map, is to make sure the technology is affordable to the middle classes,” Tavares said Thursday. “If we do not take care, we will end up in a few years with an overall electrified powertrain which is 40% more expensive than the conventional one.”
“If we cannot sell EVs to the middle classes then their volumes will be small, and if the volumes are small, then the impact on the planet is limited which then somewhere destroys the sense and the purpose of what we are doing,” he said. Stellantis needs to continuously optimize its manufacturing footprint, including the rate of use of existing plants, he said.
The former head of the UAW's Stellantis Department, Cindy Estrada, also noted last month, according to Free Press reporting at the time, that"companies like Stellantis receive billions in government incentives to transition to clean energy."