In the European electric car scene, things are getting competitive. The last 12 months have seen an explosion in a previously under-served segment of the market, electric SUVs.
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New EVs continue to roll out in Europe. The newest entrant will be the Citroën e-C4 crossover, which gets unveiled on June 30.
French President Emmanuel Macron announced an €8 billion ($8.8 billion) plan Tuesday to revive the country’s auto industry in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Increasing production and sales of electric vehicles is central to the plan.
Carlos Tavares is the chief executive of PSA, the second-largest carmaker in Europe. In about a year, PSA will very likely merge with Fiat Chrysler (FCA), putting Tavares in charge of what will be the fourth-largest automaker in the world. The CEO this week said that without subsidies, EV demand collapses. “We are selling our electric vehicles to green addicts,” said Tavares.
This week’s announcement of a 50-50 merger between the PSA Groupe and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) could create the world’s fourth-largest automaker. A big winner in the marriage is vehicle electrification.
The PSA group, which includes the French automotive brands Peugeot, Citroën, DS and now Opel, have fallen behind competitors in the transition to electric vehicles, but they have now created a new EV division ahead of launching their first next-gen electric car.
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Around the time GM sold Opel and all its European operations to the PSA Group, then Opel CEO Karl-Thomas Neumann floated the idea of the brand going all-electric.
Currently, Opel’s only EV is the Chevy Bolt EV, which is sold as the Ampera E, but now the company announces that it is expanding its lineup to have 4 electric vehicles (BEVs and PHEVs) by 2020 and a complete electrification of its lineup by 2024.
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PSA Group, Peugeot-Citroën, has recently launched the acquisition GM’s European business, including Opel/Vauxhall subsidiary and GM Financial’s European operations, and announced its intention to release more electric vehicles.
As part of the effort today, Citroën announced a new all-electric version of its Berlingo van.
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Earlier this year, we reported on the PSA group, which includes the French automotive brands Peugeot, Citroën and DS, announcing its plan for the electrification of its brands starting with two new electric vehicle platforms on which the company will build 4 new all-electric vehicles and 7 new plug-in hybrids by 2021.
One of the first vehicle to come to market under this new plan, although in limited-production will be the DS E-Tense all-electric supercar, which was spotted in the wild for the first time this week.
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