On October 30, 2026, Stellantis officially pulled the plug on its historic Douvrin plant in France. After 57 years of operation and a staggering 52 million engines produced, the lights finally went out. But if you were quietly hoping that the infamous 1.2-liter PureTech three-cylinder engine was buried right alongside the factory floor, prepare for a mild automotive plot twist. The controversial little powerplant hasn’t vanished into thin air.
Stellantis had already orchestrated its strategic exit strategy long before the final French shift ended. Production of the 1.2 EB2 three-cylinder and the 1.6 EP6 four-cylinder, found under the hoods of Peugeot, Citroën, Opel, Fiat, and Alfa Romeo models, has moved en masse to Szentgotthárd, Hungary.
Far from a small regional outpost, the Hungarian site celebrated passing two million units produced since 2020 by December 2025, feeding 13 different assembly plants with a capacity of 460,000 three-cylinders annually. Furthermore, since July 2024, the plant has been churning out 1.6-liter engines for plug-in hybrids at a rate of 220,000 units per year.
Then comes Morocco, the real trump card in this geopolitical engine shuffle. In Kenitra, assembly of a new-generation 1.2 EB2 kicked off in May 2025, followed by a massive expansion in July 2025 that boosted annual capacity from 100,000 to 350,000 units. By November 2026, local machining operations result scheduled to start, completing a full operational transformation.
Of course, the PureTech isn’t traveling light. It brings along a notorious legacy of timing belt degradation that triggered wave after wave of customer complaints, costly repairs, and a severely battered reputation. The drama got so intense that on October 19, just eleven days before Douvrin shut down, CEO Antonio Filosa issued a public apology to affected buyers, a corporate confession so rare you could count them on one hand.
However, lumping every 1.2 EB2 into the same nightmare basket would be an error. The third-generation hybrid variants have ditched the problematic wet belt in favor of a proper timing chain. Yesterday’s headache and today’s engine are fundamentally different beasts, something second-hand car shoppers should keep firmly in mind.