Stellantis Doesn’t Want to Bring Any More Brands to the US Anytime Soon
While Volkswagen might sell its Cupra-branded EV models in the U.S., Stellantis believes it's best to keep the Citroens and Peugeots across the Atlantic. The post Stellantis Doesn’t Want to Bring Any More Brands to the US Anytime Soon appeared first on The Drive.
Do you have fantasies of fun European car brands coming to America? Me too. I saw countless French cars while in Nice a few months ago and I’ve longed for a quirky hatchback ever since. Sadly, it ain’t happening anytime soon as many of those manufacturers—ones like Peugeot and Citroen—belong to Stellantis. It just so happens that at the Automotive News Canada Congress last week, Stellantis exec Jeff Hines poured cold water on any hopes of those badges coming here.
When asked directly if we can expect those brands in North America, the Stellantis Canada CEO replied, “No, I don’t think so. I don’t think we’ll have Opel or Peugeot or any of the European-centric brands here.”
This doesn’t mean we’ll never see a Euro-market car sold in the States; we just won’t see those forbidden Euro brands. Hines pointed to the Jeep Avenger, which he believes would be “a fantastic product” on this side of the Atlantic. “It fits the small SUV growth that we see everywhere,” he explained. “I think it solves a lot of affordability problems, and those are some of the things that we’re working on to get everybody a little bit more back in the game.”
That’s in contrast to other auto giants who are planning on bringing Euro brands to North America, like Volkswagen and its electric Cupra marque. I sort of understand VW’s desire to bring Cupra here, as it’s performing well with young people in Europe and the Germans want to get American youths excited about EVs. But Stellantis seems to have a hard time selling the European brands it already has here, like Fiat and Alfa Romeo. It doesn’t make much sense to add yet another new brand that American customers aren’t familiar with, one that doesn’t already have an existing dealer network.
Former Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares abruptly resigned in December 2024, which many felt was a move forced by other board members. Stellantis sales slumped big time in 2024 and Tavares was accused of not understanding the North American market. Hines added support to those claims when he was asked if the new management team better understands this market and replied, “Yes. 100%.”
“For example, Antonio Filosa is our COO. He lives in Metro Detroit. Our chairman, John Elkann, is here all the time. So, the 100% focus of the Stellantis group globally is North America,” he continued. “When you live here day to day, your ability to understand the consumer goes up tenfold. And so, I have all the faith in Antonio that we’ll bring the right products at the right time and at the right price that work for our dealers and for our customers.”
Clearly, in Hines’ mind and likely others’, Citroens and Peugeots are not the right products.
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The post Stellantis Doesn’t Want to Bring Any More Brands to the US Anytime Soon appeared first on The Drive.
