Stellantis and Leapmotor deepen alliance with dual-plant European manufacturing strategy
The two OEMs have announced plans to expand their joint venture into full-scale European production, with Spain's Zaragoza and Madrid plants at the centre of an ambitious EV manufacturing push.
Stellantis and Leapmotor have announced their intention to significantly expand their strategic partnership, moving beyond a distribution-led model into one centred on shared European manufacturing infrastructure and vehicle platform integration. The joint announcement further underlines the ambitious steps being made by Western automotive manufacturers to embed Chinese new energy vehicle (NEV) technology directly into their production operations.
The partnership, which began in October 2023 when Stellantis acquired an approximately 21% stake in Zhejiang Leapmotor Technology Co. Ltd. for €1.5 billion, has already demonstrated considerable commercial momentum. Their Leapmotor International (LPMI) joint venture — structured as a 51% Stellantis / 49% Leapmotor vehicle — has expanded to more than 850 points of sale and service across Europe and logged over 40,000 shipments on the continent in 2025 alone, following the 2024 launches of the T03 and C10 models.
Zaragoza: A new production line and a shared platform
Central to the expanded agreement is the Figueruelas Opel plant in Zaragoza, which has produced more than 10m Opel Corsa units since 1982. Under the proposed plans, a new production line would be added to accommodate two distinct models: Leapmotor’s C-SUV B10, which could begin production there as early as 2026, and a new all-electric Opel C-SUV, with a potential production start targeted for 2028. The new SUV will be designed and created by Opel in Rüsselsheim and developed by international teams located in Germany and China. The partnership with Leapmotor should enable a development time of less than two years. This would be in addition to the current production of the Peugeot 208 and the Lancia Ypsilon at Figueruelas
The Opel C-SUV is particularly significant from a platform perspective. Stellantis has confirmed the vehicle would be engineered to benefit from components sourced through the LPMI ecosystem — a direct pipeline into Leapmotor’s cost-competitive Chinese NEV supply chain. This approach has the potential to meaningfully reduce bill-of-materials costs for European-built electric vehicles, addressing one of the core affordability challenges that has hampered BEV adoption across the region.
Madrid’s Villaverde plant: New models, potential ownership transfer
The second manufacturing dimension of the expanded partnership involves the Villaverde plant in Madrid, which currently produces the Citroën C4 – a model approaching end of production. In a move that would substantially secure the plant’s long-term future, the parties are in discussions to allocate new Leapmotor-derived nameplates to Villaverde from the first half of 2028, with vehicles intended for European and Middle East and Africa (MEA) markets through LPMI’s commercial channels.
The announcement also flagged that ownership of the Villaverde facility itself is under active discussion for potential transfer to LPMI’s Spanish subsidiary. Should this proceed, it would represent a structural shift in how the joint venture operates — moving from a model in which Stellantis provides manufacturing capacity to one where LPMI directly controls production assets. All vehicles manufactured at the site would comply with forthcoming Made-in-Europe requirements, a regulatory framework increasingly relevant as the EU refines its rules of origin standards for EVs.
Joint purchasing and supply chain integration
Beyond the plant-level announcements, Stellantis and Leapmotor intend to formalise deeper cooperation in procurement. By channelling joint purchasing activities through LPMI, the partners aim to leverage their combined scale to drive down component costs, accelerate time-to-market for new models, and strengthen supply chain resilience by blending Chinese NEV ecosystem efficiencies with European manufacturing capabilities.
For Stellantis, the partnership provides simultaneous access to cost-competitive Chinese EV technology, a productive use of underutilised Spanish manufacturing capacity, and a route to delivering more affordable battery electric vehicles without the traditional costs of in-house platform development.
Leadership perspectives
Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa described the announcement as reflecting the companies’ intent to deepen their collaboration, calling it a genuine win-win that is expected to support production and advance the localisation in Europe of world-class electric vehicle manufacturing at affordable prices. Leapmotor founder and CEO Zhu Jiangming pointed to the joint venture’s rapid international growth – reaching five continents in under three years – as evidence of the partnership’s unique reach and potential.
Both companies have stressed that feasibility studies and pre-development work are currently underway under existing arrangements, with broader industrial cooperation subject to the execution of definitive agreements and customary regulatory approvals. The timeline to finalise terms has not been disclosed, but the ambition of the plan — and the scale of manufacturing capacity it involves — marks a clear escalation in what began as a minority investment just over two years ago.
