ROME, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Stellantis, a multinational auto company headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, is considering manufacturing up to 150,000 Leapmotor's electric vehicles (EVs) in the Mirafiori plant in Turin, northern Italy, Automotive News Europe said Tuesday.
The Franco-Italian automaker last year bought a 20 percent stake in Chinese EV maker Leapmotor in a 1.6-billion-dollar deal. As part of that deal, the two groups announced to set up a 51/49 Stellantis-led joint venture, which gives Stellantis "exclusive rights for the export and sale, as well as manufacturing, of Leapmotor products outside Greater China."
A Stellantis spokesman on Tuesday said the first cars emerging from the Stellantis-Leapmotor partnership would appear on European roads no later than 2026, and that the first Leapmotor electric vehicles could come off the assembly line in Italy in 2026 or 2027.
It will not be the first electric vehicle produced at Mirafiori: the plant already produces the Fiat 500 Battery Electric Vehicle compact car. ■
