Cheap EVs, with low monthly rates, could energise the car market
Editor Paul Barker listens as Stellantis boss Jean-Philippe Imparato as explains that manufacturers want to build cars people want, not what legislation requires
The key reason for Auto Express to attend a motor show is to chat to the industry execs who turn out alongside the new cars that we’ve already featured in the magazine and online thanks to the early access we’re granted.
Time with the big cheeses is sometimes one-to-one, sometimes in ‘round tables’, and Auto Express was invited to the latter with Stellantis boss Jean-Philippe Imparato at the Munich Motor Show. We expected it to develop into a bunfight, with journalists striving to get their questions in, as is usually the case.
But this one was a bit different. Rather than the floor being opened up for whatever topics people wanted, we’d clearly all been brought there for a reason, as Stellantis’s CEO launched into an impassioned and forceful speech outlining what the car industry needs from the European Union in order to survive the transition to electrification.
He didn’t reject electric cars. Instead he explained what’s required – in his opinion, as boss of an empire that includes Citroen, Fiat, Peugeot, Vauxhall and several others – to create the conditions to build cars people want, profitably, and not be led by legislation that doesn’t reflect the mood and behaviour of consumers.
The stand-out suggestion could cause a seismic shift in the lower end of the market. The EU’s fairly immediate response in announcing plans for a Small Affordable Cars initiative implies it is listening and the idea has legs. It could be to everyone’s benefit if the cost of some currently compulsory tech is stripped out – tech that is sensible on larger cars covering bigger distances on larger roads and at higher speeds, but less so on a dinky electric city car.
Whether Imparato is right, and a £13,000 electric car – think somewhere between a Citroen Ami quadricycle and the fully fledged Citroen e-C3 with a range of around 70 miles – would spark the sector into life remains to be seen.
However, an appealing low price, especially if it could lead to monthly rental rates little more than for a smartphone, has the potential to reenergise personal mobility, especially in cities or in turning two-car households towards a cheap and efficient runabout. That’s if, of course, the car industry and legislators can break with tradition and find mutually beneficial common ground and move forward as one.
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