Stellantis wants to deepen its partnership with Dongfeng and use new vehicle programs to bring more work to European factories that currently operate below capacity. Antonio Filosa discussed the idea at the Jefferies Global Industrials Conference in New York, pointing to the Leapmotor agreement as a possible model for expanding cooperation with the Chinese automaker.
Stellantis bets on Dongfeng to bring more production to underused European factories
The Rennes project already shows how this strategy could work. Stellantis plans to build Voyah electric vehicles, Dongfeng’s premium models, at the French plant and add extra production alongside the factory’s existing activities. Dongfeng, meanwhile, would gain a European manufacturing base without having to build an entirely new factory on its own.
Filosa would like to structure the partnership in a way similar to Leapmotor International, where Stellantis owns 51 percent and the Chinese partner holds the remaining 49 percent. That arrangement allows Stellantis to keep majority control while working with vehicles and technology developed by its partner. Filosa referred to that formula when discussing the possible future of the Dongfeng relationship.
The push for outside partnerships comes as Stellantis also renews the lineups of its own brands. Fiat, Peugeot, Citroën and Opel will need new models to help increase volumes, while vehicles from partner companies could use part of the remaining factory capacity. Both approaches address the same industrial challenge, even though they rely on different commercial strategies.
When a plant produces fewer vehicles than it can handle, fixed operating costs spread across a smaller number of cars. Adding more production can improve that equation, provided the vehicles also generate enough market demand. Stellantis therefore sees these alliances as a way to support factory utilization in addition to gaining access to complementary technologies and products.
Dongfeng represents one of the partnerships Filosa is currently pursuing, but Stellantis does not plan to limit the search to a single company. The CEO also left the door open to agreements with other businesses, including companies outside the automotive industry, if their activities fit the group’s available industrial infrastructure.
Rennes will therefore become an important test of the strategy. Voyah production will need to turn the industrial agreement into actual vehicles built in France, alongside the additional volume Stellantis expects from its own new products.
