Stellantis will produce a new electric car model from 2024 at the Kragujevac plant in Serbia, where it currently produces the Fiat 500L. The announcement came on the sidelines of a meeting that Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares had today in Belgrade with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic. The 2024 electric model is expected to replace the 500L on the assembly line, and could be an electric version of the Panda, or the production version of the Fiat Centoventi concept car presented in 2019.
The contract was signed by the Serbian Minister of Economy Andjelka Atanaskovic and by Silvia Vernetti, director of FCA Serbia, in the presence of President Vucic and the CEO of Stellantis Tavares. The investment amounts to 190 million euros, with Serbia participating with 48 million euros. Serbia owns 33 percent of the Kragujevac plant.
The agreement on the production of a new model of electric car in Serbia, Tavares said in statements to the press, is a clear sign of the trust that exists between the two sides. The auto industry is in constant transformation, and the future is in the electric car, he added. “There is a lot of mistrust in society, and the price of this mistrust is high. We are not going this way, but on the contrary. Today’s contract is a clear and concrete signal of our intention to make the transformation a success”.
“We will be proud to see the new models roll off the production line in Kragujevac in the next few years,” said Tavares. “This contract is a turning point, and you can believe in Stellantis. We will do our job and we are sure that Serbia will do its too.”
President Vucic, for his part, showing himself very satisfied with the agreement, spoke of “the beginning of a new era for Serbia”, which will have to equip and adapt to new technologies and services in view of the advent on its car market. electric and hybrid, starting with the creation of the new service and electric refueling stations.
“We must prepare and be ready since from 2035 there will be only electric cars in circulation”, said the Serbian president, underlining the positive return that this new investment with all the new technologies will have on the country in terms of employment and GDP growth. “I am happy that in a difficult and not peaceful phase for the world we had this important meeting”, said Vucic, observing how Fiat Serbia with 350 million euros is among the top ten exporters in Serbia. Now the Kragujevac plant, he noted, will have a transition period for the preparation of the new production lines.
Serbia is part of Stellantis’ multi-year strategic plan until 2030, the goal of which is coal-free production and a reduction in carbon monoxide emissions, Tavares said. The group’s plan, he said, is to produce at least 75 new models of electric vehicles by 2030, 50 of them in Europe. “Serbia is participating in this race, is moving at the right pace and is as committed to highly sophisticated issues as our company,” Tavares noted.