Tag Archives: Stellantis

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Two Million Strong: Stellantis Vigo Plant Hits Major Milestone in LCV Production

In the world of light commercial vehicles (LCVs), few names carry as much weight as the Peugeot Partner, Citroën Berlingo, Opel/Vauxhall Combo, and Fiat Doblò. These workhorses of Europe’s roads—and driveways—just hit a major milestone. The Stellantis Pro One Business Unit has announced that its Vigo, Spain, manufacturing plant has rolled off its two-millionth example of the current-generation small van family. The honor of marking the moment? A Citroën Berlingo passenger variant.

That figure isn’t just impressive—it’s symbolic of how deeply rooted Vigo is in the European commercial-vehicle landscape. Since 1996, the plant has produced 6.5 million units of these compact carriers across three generations (known internally as M49/59, B9, and K9). And stretching further back, since its doors opened in 1958, Vigo has assembled more than 16 million vehicles total—half of them light commercial models.

Built for Work. And Everything Else.

Launched in 2018, this latest crop of Stellantis small vans—Peugeot Rifter/Partner, Citroën Berlingo/Berlingo Van, Opel/Vauxhall Combo Life/Cargo, and Fiat Doblò/Doblò Van—shares a modular platform engineered for versatility. Available in both passenger and cargo configurations, they cater equally to tradespeople, families, and urban fleets.

Vigo’s System 2 production line currently builds around 1,200 units per day, shipping them to over 70 markets worldwide. And since 2021, that output includes fully electric versions, each powered by a 50-kWh lithium-ion battery pack good for roughly 275 kilometers (171 miles) of range on the WLTP cycle.

It’s this combination of scale, adaptability, and electrification that has made Stellantis a dominant force in Europe’s compact LCV segment. Together, these models hold a 49-percent market share across the European Union, with 137,000 units sold so far this year—nearly one out of every two small vans sold.

The People Behind the Milestone

The two-millionth-vehicle celebration brought together Stellantis Pro One’s global head Emanuele Cappellano, Vigo plant director José Luis Alonso Mosquera, and a team of proud workers for a commemorative photo on the factory floor.

“It is an honor to participate in this event, which reaffirms the strong leadership of our light commercial vehicles,” Cappellano said. “With both internal combustion and battery-electric versions, we’re able to offer sustainable mobility without compromise.”

Mosquera echoed that pride, calling the achievement “a symbol of transformation” and proof that Vigo remains a benchmark for efficiency and quality in both thermal and electric production.

Innovation, Backed by Legacy

Vigo’s expertise in alternative powertrains isn’t new—it stretches back to 1995 with the electric Citroën C15, a quirky pioneer that hinted at today’s e-van boom. The plant’s transformation has been bolstered by support from the Galician regional government, whose Axencia Galega de Innovación helped back the industrialization project for Stellantis’s multipurpose van lineup.

Today, with Stellantis’s multibrand platform strategy firing on all cylinders, Vigo stands as a model for how tradition and innovation can coexist on the same assembly line. Two million vehicles later, the formula still works: build them smart, build them versatile, and build them to last.

Source: Stellantis

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Haute Couture on Wheels: DS N°8 Struts Through Paris Fashion Week

Paris, late September. The streets are clogged with blacked-out SUVs, photographers are swarming outside venues, and someone in a hat that costs more than your car is shouting into a phone. But this year, amid the chaos of Paris Fashion Week, there’s a new star stealing the limelight. Forget the catwalk. The DS N°8 has arrived – and it’s wearing the Paris Fashion Week logo like a designer label stitched across its electric haunches.

DS Automobiles, a brand that’s never been shy about blending French flair with tech-laden wizardry, has been a partner of Paris Fashion Week since 2019. Now it’s doubling down, rolling out a 20-strong fleet of its flagship DS N°8 to ferry fashion’s finest from show to show. Think of it less as a chauffeur car, more as a rolling VIP lounge – with watchstrap-stitched leather seats instead of velvet ropes.

Electric Catwalk

Naturally, these aren’t your average taxis. Every DS N°8 in this fleet is fully electric, with the option of two- or four-wheel drive. Whisper-quiet progress through the cobbled streets of the Marais? Check. Enough torque to outrun a paparazzo scooter? Absolutely. It’s the kind of transport where Anna Wintour can glide between venues in serene silence while the rest of Paris clatters along in a traffic jam.

Details, Darling, Details

Inside, DS has leaned heavily into its obsession with craftsmanship. Pearl stitching on the seats, Clous de Paris guilloché metal trim on the dashboard, and upholstery finished like a luxury watch strap. It’s all very “atelier” – because why stop at tailoring your suit when your car can match it stitch for stitch? This is automotive design that borrows more from haute couture than it does from engineering textbooks.

Theatrics With a Steering Wheel

DS CEO Xavier Peugeot calls the partnership a celebration of “creativity, design and avant-garde.” And you can see why. The DS N°8 isn’t trying to be a German limo with better PR. It’s doing something more French: treating driving as theatre. At Paris Fashion Week, the car becomes part of the spectacle – a mobile runway, a statement of taste, an accessory.

So, what’s the verdict? Is the DS N°8 a fashion accessory on wheels, or a proper car you’d actually want to drive? Well, both. On the one hand, it’s dripping with finery, the sort of machine that feels more at home parked outside a Louis Vuitton show than a supermarket. But on the other, it’s a serious EV, packed with tech, comfortable enough to cross Europe, and distinctive enough to stand out in a sea of identikit SUVs.

In short: if Paris Fashion Week is all about who’s wearing what, then DS just made sure the answer to “who’s driving what” is equally stylish.

Source: Stellantis

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Stellantis Gives Old EV Batteries a New Mission: Powering Mobility for All

Stellantis is proving that an electric vehicle battery’s life doesn’t end when the car does. Through its circular economy arm, SUSTAINera, the automaker is repurposing high-voltage packs for “second-life” duty—and one of the most compelling examples yet isn’t powering a car, but helping people move in an entirely different way.

Meet AVATHOR ONE, an electric mobility device designed for wheelchair users and people with reduced mobility. Instead of relying on freshly built batteries, AVATHOR ONE runs on modules reclaimed from Stellantis EVs. The packs are collected in Turin, tested, and re-engineered by INTENT S.r.l., a local system integrator. The result: compact 1.4- or 2.8-kWh units that drive the device’s electric heart, backed by a modern battery management system.

Think of it as recycling meets inclusivity. “A second life for batteries, a new freedom of mobility for people,” is more than a slogan here—it’s a practical example of how automakers can merge sustainability and social responsibility without compromising technology.

The project is a local ecosystem done right. Stellantis supplies the used EV batteries. INTENT breaks down, repacks, and reintegrates them. Avathor, a Turin-based startup, builds the device itself, while legendary design house Italdesign shapes the product from its 2019 concept (the WheeM-i) into the market-ready AVATHOR ONE. The collaboration officially launched in April and has already been showcased globally—first at Expo 2025 Osaka, and next at the upcoming Salone Auto Torino.

And AVATHOR ONE isn’t just a feel-good story. It’s part of a much bigger Stellantis strategy to wring maximum value out of its EV batteries. Beyond mobility aids, SUSTAINera has partnered with utilities and battery integrators on large-scale energy storage, including ENEL X’s PIONEER project at Rome Fiumicino Airport. That installation—the largest of its kind in Italy—stores renewable energy, cuts CO₂ emissions by an estimated 16,000 tons over a decade, and shows that repurposed car batteries can scale well beyond niche applications.

The goal is nothing less than a 360-degree approach to EV battery life: Reuse, Repurpose, Remanufacture, and Recycle. In other words, keep these high-voltage packs working as long as possible before they hit the shredder.

For Stellantis, that strategy is both a business model and a statement. The company has seen “second-life” battery demand surge over the last three years, and it’s investing heavily to keep the momentum. If AVATHOR ONE is any indication, the payoff won’t just be measured in carbon savings—but in freedom of movement for people who need it most.

Source: Stellantis