Stellantis plays down European scope for JLR and Tata partnerships

TURIN, May 29 (Reuters) – Stellantis has no significant plans to expand its recent partnerships with Jaguar Land Rover and Tata Motors to Europe, its Europe chief Emanuele Cappellano said on Friday.

The automaker last month announced a series of cooperation agreements under its new long-term strategy, including with Jaguar Land Rover for the U.S. market and Tata Motors for India.

Analysts have speculated the tie-ups could also support Stellantis in Europe, where it is still assessing technology options, including for larger vehicles.

Cappellano said expanding the JLR and Tata joint ventures to Europe was not a priority.

“We didn’t think to develop these JVs for the United States and India with Europe in mind,” he told a media conference in Turin, where he described the European aspects of the business plan Stellantis presented last week.

“If there were any benefit to it – say, a product opportunity – we might well consider it, but at the moment it’s not our main focus”.

Cappellano said earlier this week that Stellantis was studying options to underpin future large models of its European premium brand Alfa Romeo, either in-house or with a partner.

Alfa Romeo plans to launch two new mid-sized models by 2030, but has withdrawn firm dates for the new versions of its larger Giulia sport sedan and Stelvio SUV.

Cappellano said on Friday Stellantis was also considering selling in Europe a niche, low-volume Jeep model to be made in China with local partner Dongfeng.

Stellantis and Dongfeng this month signed a $1.2 billion deal to produce Peugeot- and Jeep-branded vehicles in China, both for domestic sales and export.

The two companies also announced plans for cooperation in Europe, including for manufacturing, adding to Stellantis’ partnership with Chinese EV maker Leapmotor.

(Reporting by Giulio Piovaccari. Editing by Mark Potter)