Automotive giant Stellantis and Taiwanese multinational electronics contract manufacturer Foxconn, the producer of the iPhone among other products, said on Monday that they would be announcing a strategic partnership tomorrow, Tuesday, May 18.
Representatives from each company will include Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares; Foxconn Chairman Young Liu; Yves Bonnefont, Chief Software Officer at Stellantis; and Calvin Chih, Chief Executive Officer at FIH.
Last year, Fiat Chrysler, which has since been subsumed into Stellantis, said it intended to set up a joint venture with Hon Hai Precision Industry, the parent company of Foxconn. At the time, FCA had said it intended to build and develop electric vehicles and internet-connected vehicles in China.
Read More: FCA Wants To Build Electric Vehicles In China With Apple iPhone Maker Foxconn
Since then, FCA partnered with Peugeot to create Stellantis. Throughout, though, relaunching in China, the world’s single biggest market for automobiles, has been a priority.
Not only is the market enormous, incentives, infrastructure, and industry also make it an important EV market. The nation is a powerful source of income for many European automakers that will play an important part in amortizing the expense of developing EV chassis.
Stellantis announced earlier this year that it would no longer need to buy emissions credits from Tesla. The company said it believed it could reach its CO2 emissions targets in Europe without the help of the expensive credits. From 2019-2021, Stellantis was forced to spend about €2 billion ($2.4 billion) on them.
Finding a new source of income and a development partner in China could play an important role in guaranteeing the success of Stellantis’ electrification plans and its plans for the future.
Correction: We erroneously called Foxconn a Chinese company when it is in fact based in Taiwan. We apologize for the mistake.
