Parent company Stellantis plans to build French branded DS EVs in Italy

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TURIN, ITALY

It’s been revealed that new full-electric flagship models for the DS and Opel, both brands under the Stellantis Group, will have their upcoming electric cars built in Italy starting from 2024.The production reshuffle is said to be part of the group’s aggressive consolidation plan after it was formed from the merger of Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot S.A. in early 2021.

The new all-electric DS model is internally code-named the D85, and the series production version could be called the DS 9 Crossback, as was revealed in some early  documentation that was handed out to European dealerships. The naming convention would fall nicely inline with the DS9 sedan that was due to arrive in Singapore two years ago but shelved due to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

The car is expected to be a five-door fastback, with a higher seating position similar in proportions to the Citroen C5 X that is built in China.

If you haven’t already heard about the Stellantis empire, you should take notice because it currently has 24 assembly plants in the European region, and there are 14 brands under its ownership. Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat, Jeep, Lancia, Maserati, Ram, Citroen, DS, Opel, Peugeot, and Vauxhall are all Stellantis brands. It’s now officially the fourth-largest carmaker in the world. 

The upcoming electric DS will be based on a new architecture called STLA Medium. Defined by Stellantis as “BEV by design” and conceived as a premium vehicle platform, it’s said the be versatile enough to also underpin internal combustion variants in regions that would require it.

Vehicles based on STLA Medium will measure between 4350 to 5000 mm in length, house battery packs of up to 104 kilowatt-hours and offer a range up to 700 km, the company said in its 2021 EV Day presentation.

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The platform will also form the basis for the next-generation Opel Insignia, which at this point may or may not keep the Insignia nameplate. The present version of the car still sits on a chassis that dates back to the 2010s, developed when General Motors still owned Opel so a new car is very much overdue.   

Stellantis has projected that it will build an average of 90,000 electric cars, including assembly of battery packs, annually at its production facility in Melfi, near Naples in Italy. Besides the new DS and Opel, two other EVs to be marketed under another of the Stellantis brands are currently in the planning stages. 

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The Melfi factory has a capacity of 400,000 units annually, so this means that additional products, as well as continued production of current internal combustion models, will be required to ensure that the factory runs at capacity. Melfi currently builds the Fiat 500X small SUV, launched in 2014, as well as the Jeep Renegade and Jeep Compass, launched in 2016.

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