Stellantis NV is to invest C$3.6 billion (US$2.8 billion) to retool two Canadian assembly plants to build electric vehicles (EVs), more than doubling an earlier commitment made during union negotiations.
Stellantis, formed from the merger of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV and PSA Group last year, is to add a new vehicle platform that can be used to make electric vehicles at its plants in Windsor and Brampton, Ontario, the company said in a statement on Monday.
The investments will restore employment at the two plants, which have suffered reductions in recent years.
Photo: Bloomberg
“These investments reaffirm our long-term commitment to Canada and represent an important step as we move toward zero-emission vehicles,” Stellantis North America chief operating officer Mark Stewart said in the statement.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Ontario Premier Doug Ford and other Canadian officials attended an event in Windsor on Monday announcing the investment. Ford is expected to officially begin his campaign for re-election this week, with Canada’s most populous province going to the polls next month.
The federal government and the province of Ontario are to spend up to about C$1 billion to support the project.
The sprawling manufacturer of nameplates like Jeep, Ram and Fiat is investing US$35 billion globally through 2025 to beef up its electrification and software capabilities.
In March, Stellantis and LG Energy Solution said they would pour more than US$4.1 billion into a joint venture to build a new EV battery plant in Windsor. The 45 gigawatt-hour factory, which is expected to begin operations in 2025, are expected to create 2,500 jobs, and supply Stellantis’s assembly facility in Windsor and others across North America.
Windsor, which makes the Chrysler Pacifica minivan, is running on two shifts after cutting one-third in 2020. Its second shift is scheduled to be dropped at the end of this year.
The Brampton plant, which makes the Dodge Charger and Challenger muscle cars, would build at least one new all-electric model as part of the investment, the company said.
Both plants are expected to return to three shifts at a later date, the company said.
Meanwhile, Stellantis is to acquire the Share Now vehicle-sharing joint venture formed by BMW AG and Mercedes-Benz AG, a move aimed at tapping new revenue streams.
The company yesterday said its Free2Move mobility service brand would acquire Share Now, without naming a price.
Share Now, the European market leader, allows customers to use smartphones for short-term rentals of vehicles, including Minis or Mercedes-Benz A-Class vehicles in cities.
Free2Move offers app-based parking, leasing and rental services to its approximately 2 million customers.
Share Now provides so-called free-floating vehicle sharing services in 16 European cities and has about 3.4 million customers.
Over the next decade, Stellantis intends to expand Free2move’s presence worldwide, growing it to 15 million active users and achieving net revenues of 2.8 billion euros (US$2.94 billion).
Starlux Airlines Co (星宇航空) today unveiled a long-haul network expansion plan at a shareholders’ meeting in Taipei, including direct flights to Barcelona, Spain, and Zurich, Switzerland, as well as a service connecting Taipei, Sydney and New Zealand. Starlux is to become the first Taiwanese carrier to offer non-stop services to the two European cities, while the inaugural oceanic route is expected to expand transit opportunities within the Australia-New Zealand market, Starlux said. Flight services to Chicago, Dallas, Washington and New York are under evaluation, the airline added. Prior to the shareholders’ meeting, the airline earlier this year announced that it would be
Netherlands-based semiconductor equipment supplier ASML Holding NV yesterday said that it is planning to hire an additional 1,000 people in Taiwan this year in response to growing demand from clients. ASML had previously planned to recruit 600 people this year, but that the plan has been adjusted upward, ASML vice president and ASML Taiwan general manager Grace Wang (汪佳慧) told reporters. ASML has a workforce of more than 4,500 in Taiwan, accounting for about 10 percent of its global total, Wang said. This year’s recruitment campaign would focus on adding people in the customer support, manufacturing and supply chain domains to assist ASML
UNDER MICROSCOPE: Taiwan detained three people who allegedly conspired to buy servers in Taiwan and export them using fraudulent documentation, prosecutors said Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Saturday urged Super Micro Computer Inc to tighten up on compliance after Taiwan detained three people this week for allegedly making fraudulent declarations about artificial intelligence (AI) servers made by its US partner. The development marked the nation’s first crackdown on semiconductor smuggling, which grew after the US slapped restrictions on exports of high-end chips such as Nvidia AI accelerators to China. Nvidia is “rigorous” in explaining regulations to all of its partners, Huang told reporters after arriving in Taipei. “Ultimately Super Micro has to run their own company,” he said in response to
Nvidia Corp yesterday announced that CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) would attend an employee meeting in Taipei tomorrow to celebrate the launch of the company’s Taiwan headquarters project. Huang would attend a gathering at the site of Nvidia’s planned headquarters in Beitou Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區), the company said in a statement. After arriving in Taiwan on Saturday last week, Huang told reporters that he plans to meet with Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家), and would attend the groundbreaking ceremony for Nvidia’s Taiwan headquarters tomorrow. Nvidia has not yet applied
RSS