Stellantis will make a definitive exit from Symbio through a total outlay of €235 million, a figure lower than the roughly €400 million initially expected. The amount includes about €145 million tied to waived credits and another €90 million in cash. The deal should close by May, and once it does, Michelin and Forvia will each hold 50 percent of Symbio.
Stellantis will pay €235 million to exit Symbio and walk away from hydrogen
Stellantis joined the joint venture in 2023 with a 33.3 percent stake, betting on hydrogen as a possible growth driver for light commercial vehicles, a segment where fuel cells appeared to offer advantages over batteries in range and refueling time. Filosa’s leadership has now decided to set that scenario aside and focus resources and investment on areas the group sees as more sustainable in terms of industrial returns. That choice fits a broader strategy of tighter project selection that is reshaping Stellantis’ technology priorities on several fronts.
Based on the information available so far, Stellantis accounted for as much as 80 percent of Symbio’s orders. Its exit therefore strips the company not only of an industrial partner but also of the main commercial outlet on which the project’s economic balance depended. Without that volume, Symbio’s revenue base shrinks dramatically. Finding alternative customers capable of offsetting even part of that loss looks extremely difficult for now, especially because the hydrogen mobility market still remains at an early stage and only a handful of automakers are willing to commit to it at industrial scale.
The impact has already taken concrete form in a downsizing plan that calls for about 358 job cuts, equal to roughly 70 percent of the total workforce. That number has pushed unions to speak openly of a shock and to demand measures that can protect at least part of the employment base and research activity developed around the joint venture over the years, especially at the French sites where most of the technical expertise has accumulated.
The case also raises a broader question about the strength of France’s hydrogen supply chain, which until now had benefited from significant public support and from Stellantis’ industrial role as its main buyer. Without that order volume, the picture changes sharply. The risk is that the entire ecosystem of suppliers and research centers built around Symbio could lose critical mass at the very moment it most needs to consolidate. It now remains to be seen whether Michelin and Forvia have both the willingness and the resources to support the project on their own as it enters the most exposed phase in its history, or whether Stellantis’ exit will accelerate a full-scale downsizing.
