Stellantis promises 'heart-of-the-market SUV' from new EV platform

Stellantis executives have outlined how they plan to shake up the market for large electric models as they provided more detail of a radical EV strategy across its 14 brands.

The so-called STLA Large platform will used for vehicles ranging in length from 15-17 feet, and widths from 6-7.5 feet, the company, which was formed from the merger of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and PSA Group in January, said in a presentation on July 8.

The flexibility of the platform, with its low-mounted battery and electric drive modules positioned at the ends of the car, will allow great design flexibility, Stellantis Chief Design Officer Ralph Gilles said during the presentation.

The platform will produce eight vehicles coming within the next three to five years including a "long-range luxury sedan, an all-conquering muscle car, a heart-of-the-market SUV, a very capable Jeep off-roading white-space vehicle as well as a midsize truck," Gilles said.

The cars are likely to be aimed at the U.S. market, but European marques could also benefit.

Range for the vehicles will be up to 800km (500 miles), Stellantis Chief Engineering Officer Harald Wester said during the presentation.

Modular and lots of sharing

The platforms will be highly modular and will share technology such as electric drive units in a bid to increase economies of scales and generate profit margins Stellantis predicts will reach 10 percent by 2026, the company said in a presentation on July 8.

Cars underpinned by the four platforms will be capable driving 500 to 800 km (300 to 500 miles) on a single charge and have the ability to add up to 32 km (20 miles) per minute using a fast charger.

The platforms will "unlock new facets of our brands, taking their efficiencies and performances to the next level," Wester added.

For small cars, a second generation of the eCMP multi-energy platform (which allows a full-electric drivetrain) will be used until 2026, when it will be replaced by STLA Small. Range is expected to top 300 miles.

For compact cars Stellantis will use the STLA Medium platform starting in mid-2023. Range will be more than 430 miles. Current electrified Stellantis compact and midsize cars are built on the EMP2 platform, which allows for plug-in hybrids but not full-electric vehicles.

This medium architecture will debut with the redesigned Peugeot 3008 compact SUV was previously called eVMP

For larger vehicles, STLA Large is due in mid-2023. Range will exceed 500 miles.

For body-on-frame light trucks and SUVs, STLA Frame will be used starting in 2024. Range will be more than 300 miles.

Eliminating range anxiety

STLA Frame meanwhile will be used for pickups such as the Ram 1500 and large SUVs, either with a battery electric drivetrain or what Stellantis calls the Range Electric Paradigm Breaker drivetrain, or REPB.

This will offer the "benefit of an electric vehicle without range anxiety," Patrice Lucas, the executive responsible for cross car lines and project engineering at Stellantis, said in the presentation.

No additional details were given but the description suggests a range-extended electric drive.

The platforms will share components to increase profitability, Lucas said. Volume levels for each platform will be up to 2 million units at year, he added, creating a "real success factor."

Vehicles on the four platforms will share three different electric drive modules (EDMs), incorporating the electric motor, transmission and inverter. The EDMs can be configured for front-wheel-, rear-wheel- and all-wheel drive and the 4xe plug-in hybrid drivetrain.

The platforms are a key part of Stellantis' 30 billion euro ($36 billion) investment plan to electrify its vehicle lineup by 2025.

'Unprecedented transition'

The radical shift was needed. "This is an unprecedented transition for the industry with a very compact time window with a significant magnitude of change," Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares said in the presentation.

He acknowledged the transition will not be easy.

"It's a significant amount of work," he said. "When we develop almost in parallel four brand new BEV-focused platforms, the development of all the electric motors and transmissions that go with that, the construction of new plants for battery cells. It's fair to say there is an execution risk."