Stellantis will build Dongfeng’s Voyah EVs in France through a new European joint venture.
The deal follows Stellantis’ Leapmotor tie-up, which already brings Chinese EV production to Spain.
Chinese automakers are turning to European assembly to blunt tariffs and gain a local foothold.
Stellantis, the automotive conglomerate that owns Jeep, Ram, and 12 other car brands, has just announced a joint venture agreement with China’s Dongfeng to build Voyah EVs in one of its European factories. It already has a similar deal with Leapmotor, under which the latter is assembling its vehicles at a Stellantis plant in Spain to bypass import tariffs these vehicles would have faced if they were manufactured in China.
Chinese EVs face an additional import duty of up to 35% in the EU, on top of the existing 10% import tariff. This hasn’t stopped Chinese automakers from bringing their vehicles over and undercutting local competition, but building them locally is an even better deal for the automakers.
