They have burned 3.3 billion euros in developments that will never see the light

There are times that it is better to stop, recapitulate and, in the worst case, throw all the work in the trash. Because there are occasions in which it is better to throw the work in the trash than to move forward and continue trying into a project condemned to failure. That is what should be completed within Stellantis last year. And at the same conclusion this year has been reached.

The result: 3,300 million euros lost in developments that will never see the light.

In the trash. A few weeks ago, Stellantis published the results of his first half of 2025. The most striking figure was, without any doubt, The loss of 2.3 billion euros. A figure that is still much more striking if we take into account that last year, in the same period, a benefit of 5,647 million was thrown.

The figure is explained by the tariffs that the company has had to face in the United States and for a descent in sales. Billing has fallen more than 12%, explained by a 6% sales fall in Europe (with some cars to review, such as Citroën C3) but, above all, 25% in the United States where they had a huge accumulated car stock In the dealers.

But, above all, it is explained by money that has gone, directly, in the trash.

Hydrogen. With the Presentation of the results The Cancellation of plans of Stellantis related to hydrogen. In its results account, losses of 733 million euros were attributed to the performance of this item in the first half of 2025.

That figure was built with investments in Symbioa joint company with Michelin and Forvia for the production of hydrogen -moved vans. The production plant took more than 300 million euros that have not finished anywhere.

However, it is estimated that stellantis losses directly related to hydrogen investments have been much higher and They reach about 1.8 billion euros. Keep in mind that Stellantis mounted, for example, a program for convert electric vans in hydrogen versions.

Maserati. But hydrogen, which seemed like a future investment to take positions, seems almost the least of the problems when it is observed what is past with the Italian luxury vehicles.

The Maserati MC20 is barely being sold and The company has canceled the plans To develop a completely electric version. The result is that in the first half of 2025 they have lost 552 million euros. But the problem is another. The problem is in 2024 when 1.5 billion euros went to drain.

China is not the way. The big black point is that in 2024 Stellantis had the production of Electrical versions of the Maserati Quattroporte and Levant. The idea was to sell those cars, mainly, in China where the electric car is triumphing but the process was paralyzed at the last minute. The result is seen in your results account: 1.5 billion euros lost in the development of these cars.

Before the Bad results of foreign companies In China, someone decided that it was better to brake and assume losses before the result was even worse than reflected. The intention was that these electrical versions They will occur in Mirafiori (Turin) So investments in personnel and machinery were already made. At least, we had to try to patch the matter.

The last piece of dominoes. That obligation to do “something” with the Mirafiori plant was taken advantage of by Stellantis to try to boost the sales of Fiat 500. The electrical version has been added to modify the vehicle’s platform since the car was born as a purely electric vehicle.

This last money is not explicitly reflected in Stellantis accounts but it is unquestionable that it has had to assume another stone on the road although it has been awarded to the rest of the investment items since, unlike cars such as Peugeot 3008 (born to house all kinds of technologies)the Fiat 500E was born as a car without combustion versions on the horizon.

This last expense, in fact, seems to have been enough for Stellantis does not make the same mistake with the Peugeot 208 And think, from the beginning, to set up the car on a multienergy platform and, in this way, not have to turn back in the project. Even if he had not been born prior loss of 1,500 million euros with Maserati.

Photo | Maserati and Stellantis

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