Stellantis to Manufacture New Peugeot 2008 SUV in Argentina, Confirms COO Emanuele Cappellano

2024-04-25 18:30:00

The Peugeot 2088, the brand’s new SUV-B generation, is already being manufactured in Palomar and will go on sale in the second half of the year.

Emanuele CappellanoChief Operating Officer (COO) of Stellantis South America he confirmed that he will manufacture the new generation of his SUV-B Peugeot 2008 for free, starting in the second half of this year at its factory Palomar, where the hatchback is currently produced 208 and the van Partner Off the brand. This confirms the Infobae preview for August 10, 2023 when it was pointed out that “the local manufacture of a new model may signal the lion brand’s commitment to SUVs.”

This project required new investment USD 270 millionthe majority already executed, framed within the overall context of disbursements USD 320 million done in recent years. But in addition, Cappellano also announced Next Level, a strategic investment plan for South America that will allocate another USD 400 million for the period 2025-2030 intended for new “products, platform and technologies”.

The Italian-born COO did not want to address the matter at a subsequent press conference in which Infobae participated. It is estimated that a large part of this investment would be allocated to manufacturing in the Ferreyra Plant, Córdobafrom the average collection Fiat Titanrecently presented in Brazil, and currently being assembled i Uruguay.

Emanuele Cappellano, Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Stellantis South America, announced the investment for Peugeot 2008 and for new projects and platforms in Córdoba

In the Mediterranean plant, Stellantis produces only the Fiat Cronosand the brand can enter the highest segment of pickup trucks that today successfully occupy the low and medium ranges with the expansion of production capacity. Strada and Toro. When asked specifically, Cappellano simply replied that “we’re not going to give details right now. Is segment that the company wants to keep alive and with leadership”which somehow allows us to understand that the rumors are well founded.

As for whether the investments have more to do with a strategic plan or the impossibility of transferring dollars abroad, the Stellantis executive admitted that there is a mix of things. “Given to strategic decision and not being able to transfer money. Liquidity helps with these types of investment decisions, but all our investments are about long-term objectives,” he said.

When asked Infobae Regarding the local context, the executive said: “We follow closely what is happening in Argentina, trying to support with investments. I think the situation is stabilizing. It’s a complicated time, there was a strong disagreement at the end of last year, but we believe that the second semester will be better.”

Stellantis’ investment in the Palomar plant was 320 million dollars

Martín Zuppi, Director General of Stellantis Argentina and the president of Adefa, the association that brings together local terminals, also spoke about the local context.

“When we talk about the competitiveness of the industry we always look at the exchange rate, but Argentina has a very large tax burden. Today, we export taxes 22%., when that figure is 7% in Brazil and Mexico does not export taxes. “We are waiting for a reset of the tax burden,” he said.

According to Zuppi, the market is local far from reaching one million in annual sales, a figure it almost achieved in 2017, when 900,942 units were sold. believes that A “healthy” market would be around 600,000 vehicles. “The current 300,000 is low. The drop was 30% in the first quarter and we are seeing an increase for the second semester, but with fewer units than in 2023 in the annual total. In 2025 there may be a recovery,” he said. Regarding the participation of Stellantis with its brands in the total automotive production of Argentina by 2024, the figure was estimated to be around 160,000 units.

The Director General of Stellantis Argentina hopes that rates continue to fall so that it begins to emerge more credit to finance consumptionhe does not see a “bidding war” in the short term in the market and believes that we must have a $ 12,000 car again, we must talk about competitiveness and taxes, and also about the development of the supplier industry.

Martín Zuppi, General Director of Stellantis Argentina since February, believes that the market needs better credit conditions and lower tax burden to be able to grow to around 600,000 units every year.

“With such short margins The bidding war ends quickly. We don’t have margins of 20 points and this year they will be shorter than last year,” Zuppi emphasized, expressing something that other executives have also expressed to Infobae in recent weeks regarding the Council’s current policy . bonuses and discounts which can be seen on the market and contributed significantly to the number of partial sales in April being positive.

For the local executive, who met the Minister as a reference for the sector Luis Caputo days ago, the pressing problems of the sector are the questions of tax burden to be able to exportcomplete the normalization of the payment of imports, the solution of the remaining commercial debt (which affects the terminals but also their suppliers), achieve an “active and logical” financial market to sell better in the domestic market, and the laws of -investments.

“Which of them is the most urgent?” asked these media.

“The issue of the tax burden, because it is also advantageous for clients. All good that can happen to us people buy cars in a simpler, cheaper way and with more suitable financial markets. If that happens we will do better. If people don’t have a logical quota, don’t get their wages, or if cars are expensive because of taxes, it doesn’t solve anything for us.”