For those who have forgotten: Stellantis includes Fiat, Peugeot, Citroën and Opel, and the American brands Dodge, Jeep, Ram and Chrysler. At the children’s table, Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Lancia, Maserati and DS smear each other with applesauce.
Electric cars with large batteries
All 13 Stellaantis brands will embrace electric driving. In 2024, Dodge will even launch a fully electric muscle car. Opel will go fully electric in Europe from 2028. This makes the new Opel Astra the last Astra with a combustion engine. Jeep plans to place 35 charging stations with solar panels in the bush, so adventurous Jeep drivers can charge their new electric Jeep. Funny.
To make that electric future a reality, reduce costs and increase profits, all 13 brands will use 4 EV platforms. The STLA Small, Medium and Large, plus the STLA Frame. The latter is a robust ladder frame with a huge battery pack of 159 to more than 200 kWh, on which the American brands can build their pick-ups. The car brands in Europe will probably get by with the S, M and L.
STLA Small
- Compact models
- 37 to 82 kWh
- Range up to 500 kilometers
STLA Medium
- Premium model
- 87 to 104 kWh
- Range up to 700 kilometers
STLA Large
- Sports cars and muscle cars
- 101 to 118 kWh
- Range up to 800 kilometers
Volkswagen as an example
What do you get when 13 brands start building cars on the same technical basis? Electric unity sausage. You can already see it happening at Volkswagen, where the Volkswagen ID.4, the Skoda Enyaq iV and the Audi Q4 E-Tron are all on the MEB platform. As a result, they drive almost the same. They distinguish themselves with the design inside and out, plus a focus on what is important to a brand. For Skoda that is practical convenience, for Audi the high-tech decoration.
0 to 100 in 2 seconds
Unity or not, the EV platforms from Stellantis look promising. We are particularly impressed by the large batteries. The designers have three powertrains to choose from. The most powerful works with 800 volts, which works wonders for fast charging. And it looks like, based on the STLA Large platform, we’re going to see sports cars or muscle cars sprinting to 100 in 2 seconds. Just like the Tesla Model S Plaid.
We conclude with a dilemma: is an Alfa Romeo still a real Alfa Romeo if it is built on such a universally applied, modern and solid platform? Does he still have a soul? Is it still interesting for Alfa Romeo enthusiasts?