Stellantis and Dongfeng sign Europe joint venture to assemble Voyah EVs in Rennes
Stellantis and China's Dongfeng signed a memorandum on May 20 to establish a European joint venture, with Stellantis holding 51% and Dongfeng 49%, under which Dongfeng's Voyah electric models will be built at the Rennes plant in western France. The deal lets Dongfeng skirt EU tariffs on Chinese EV imports and meets the bloc's 'Made in Europe' rule requiring 70% local content. Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa is due to lay out wider strategy at the company's investors' day in Michigan on Thursday.
Stellantis announced on Wednesday it had signed a memorandum with China's Dongfeng to set up a joint venture in Europe sharing manufacturing, sales, and engineering operations. Stellantis will hold 51% and Dongfeng 49%; financial details were not disclosed.
Under the agreement, Dongfeng's Voyah electric models will be assembled at Stellantis' plant in Rennes, western France, for the European market. Building locally lets Dongfeng skirt the heavy EU tariffs on Chinese EV imports and meets the bloc's 'Made in Europe' rule, which requires 70% of an electric vehicle's content to be produced locally.
"With this new chapter in our collaboration, we will give our customers an even greater choice of competitive products and pricing, leveraging the best of Stellantis's global footprint alongside Dongfeng's access to China's advanced new energy vehicles ecosystem," Stellantis chief Antonio Filosa said in a statement. Dongfeng chairperson Qing Yang said the partnership would "unlock greater value from the joint venture, accelerate Dongfeng's global expansion, [and] support Stellantis's global strategic shift and China presence."
The Rennes plant has been operating well below capacity for years and currently produces only a high-end Citroen SUV. The deal follows a separate announcement earlier this month under which Stellantis and Dongfeng agreed to build Jeep and Peugeot models for the Chinese market and step up cooperation on technology research. Stellantis also said on Tuesday it would start building smaller, low-cost electric cars for Europe as buyers turn increasingly to Chinese rivals — BYD, Chery, Geely, Leapmotor, Jaecoo and XPeng — brands virtually unknown in Europe three years ago.
The wider regulatory pressure comes from EU targets calling for 90% of all new cars sold in the bloc to be electric by 2035, alongside a new tax-friendly Commission category for small EVs intended to lift demand. Stellantis, formed five years ago through the merger of France's PSA and Italy-based Fiat Chrysler, said its existing Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen Automobile joint venture has built more than 6.5 million cars in China since its creation 34 years ago. Filosa is scheduled to lay out the company's strategy to revive sales and profits across its 14 brands at an investors' day in Michigan, in the heart of the U.S. auto industry, on Thursday.