Stellantis targets India for EVs developed by its China partner

Stellantis plans to sell Chinese-branded electric vehicles developed by its partner Leapmotor in India as soon as the end of this year, said the executive leading the joint venture.

"With the size of the automotive market, India has a lot of potential" said Tianshu Xin, head of China operations for Stellantis and CEO of its joint venture, Leapmotor International.

"We're accelerating entering into the Indian market," Xin told Reuters on the sidelines of the Shanghai auto show.

He did not specify which model Stellantis would look to sell in India from Leapmotor or whether the vehicles would be exported from China or assembled locally.

The Stellantis-controlled joint venture has been planning to use Stellantis plants in Europe and Indonesia to assemble Leapmotor EVs for local markets. Xin said the strategy could be "fragile" given the fast-changing nature of trade tariffs.

In a separate interview, Leapmotor founder and CEO Zhu Jiangming also said India was a potentially large market for the EV maker but it would be difficult to make a profit there.

"No matter smartphones, tablets, it is very difficult to profit from India and it is well expected it would be the same for the car market," Zhu said.

Stellantis has several plants in India, including a plant in Tamil Nadu that is manufacturing EVs under the Citroen brand.

US-based Tesla, the EV pioneer that  trails China's BYD in revenue, has long wanted to sell in India, the world's third-largest car market. Tesla chief Elon Musk said India's tariffs of 100% on imports have been a deterrent.

Tesla said on Wednesday it was assessing whether to enter India, a market its CFO described as "very hot".

Leapmotor created waves with its recent rollout of an all-electric B10 SUV equipped with smart-driving features and lidar sensing technology for less than $18,000 (R339,350).

In 2023, Stellantis bought a 21% stake in Leapmotor for $1.6bn (R30.2m). The two carmakers also formed the joint venture Leapmotor International, in which Stellantis holds a 51% stake.

Leapmotor sold just over 300,000 cars last year, less than a tenth of the volume of BYD, though it was profitable in the fourth quarter, a year ahead of its earlier forecast.