MILAN (solusikaki.com) - Stellantis has stopped making its Chinese partner Leapmotor's T03 small electric car in Poland and is assessing alternative production options, the Franco-Italian automaker said on Tuesday.
The company stated that they have ceased production of the Leapmotor T03 model at the Tychy facility in Poland starting from March 30th.
"Although the company continues to actively participate in the introduction of Leapmotor vehicles into the European market, currently they are assessing various production alternatives," Stellantis stated, without offering additional information, such as the possibility of moving the model to another facility within Europe.
The production stoppage was initially reported on Monday by the French newspaper Les Echos.
Stellantis has not disclosed the reason behind halting the production of T03.
According to someone familiar with the situation, Stellantis and Leapmotor currently have no plans to restart T03 production in Europe. The individual also mentioned that they intend to update the T03 model to an A-series range, which will be manufactured in China starting in 2026.
The partners abandoned their plan last year to construct a second Leapmotor vehicle, the B10 electric crossover, in Poland.
Following private instructions from the Chinese government to halt significant investments in European nations that supported additional EU tariffs on China-produced electric vehicles, that decision was made, according to sources cited by solusikaki.com in November.
Poland was one of the European Union nations that backed tariffs.
Spain, which refrained from voting on the EU tariffs, is now favored for manufacturing the Leapmotor B10 electric vehicle.
Stellantis holds a 51% share in the Leapmotor International joint venture alongside its Chinese counterpart, granting them exclusive authority for exporting, selling, and producing Leapmotor electric vehicles beyond China’s borders.
(Reported by Giulio Piovaccari in Milan and Zhang Yan in Shanghai. Edited by Alvise Armellini and Mark Potter)