Stellantis CEO compares margins with Tesla, GM ahead of first EV launches in the US
Jeep and Ram owner, Stellantis posted its first-half results Wednesday, showing a 24% rise in global EV sales. Ahead of its North American EV offensive, Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares said the automaker’s margins were better than that of Tesla and General Motors.
Stellantis CEO calls out Tesla, GM over margins
Stellantis posted a record performance in the first half of 2023 with revenue, adjusted operating income, and net profit all up over last year.
Revenue rose 12% YOY to €98.4 billion ($109B), while net profit came in at €10.9 billion ($12B). Operating income, which many look at to determine profitability, was 14.1%.
Tavares told reporters, following the results, that Tesla is “entering my world the world of tight pricing, cost competitiveness, and the operational issues that a big company like ours may face,” according to Reuters.
Stellantis’s leader pointed out how Tesla’s “profitability moved from more than 17% in the first half of 2022 to 10.5% in the first half of 2023.”
As expected, Tesla’s operating margin fell in the second quarter due primarily to the price cuts throughout the first half of the year, in addition to costs associated with ramping 4680 cell production and increased expenses driven by the Cybertruck, AI, and other projects.
The EV leader’s operating margin has now fallen for three straight quarters, from a peak of 17.2% in Q3 2022 to 9.6% in the most recent quarter, which is still strong compared to the industry average.
Tavares claimed all automakers, including Tesla, would face competition from Chinese EV makers in their home markets. He said:
If we are racing for the bottom in terms of facing the Chinese with price cuts, Tesla will have problems with that strategy before we do, because we are more profitable than Tesla.
Tesla was not the only one, Tavares called out. He also mentioned General Motors, which posted margins of 8.3%.
Stellantis advances EV offensive to the US
Meanwhile, while Tesla continues setting new EV delivery records each quarter, Stellantis has yet to release its first all-electric car in the US.
Despite the success in the EU, the automaker’s first EVs will arrive in North America in the second half of the year, including the RAM ProMaster electric van and a New Fiat 500 EV.
Stellantis says the “BEV offensive” in North America will expand next year with eight new EV models. These include the Dodge Charge Daytona, Jeep Wagoneer S and Recon, and RAM 1500 REV electric pickup.
Tavares commented on the first-half results, saying:
Our outstanding performance in the first half of this year supports our long-term sustainability and our ability to achieve the bold ambitions of our Dare Forward 2030 plan.
Stellantis sold roughly 169,000 electric cars globally during the first half of the year, up 24% YOY, with several new products on the market.
The company says it now ranks third in overall EV sales and number one in commercial EV sales in the EU30.
Stellantis also recently revealed its STLA medium platform, which will be used to underpin future Jeep and Chrysler EVs featuring up to 435 miles (700km) of range with a performance pack.
Electrek’s Take
Despite Stellantis posting a higher margin in the first half of the year than Tesla, the company has a lot of work to do as it aims to reach 100% EV sales in Europe and 50% in the US by 2030.
As other automakers have shown, transitioning factories can be a major hurdle, with costly downtime and other expenses.
The US is Stellantis’s largest revenue driver, where it makes the most money. Tavares has previously mentioned he would likely need to expand its manufacturing footprint in the US and potentially even more in its domestic market.
This is not to mention the investments that will go into securing the EV supply chain to enable it to hit its targets, including batteries and software. All of this comes as EV makers from China continue expanding into key auto markets with low-priced, unique electric models.
For example, yesterday, China’s Geely Group revealed its first Radar R6 electric pickup trucks, which rolled off the assembly line for international markets. The Radar R6 starts at RMB 178,800 (roughly $25K) in China.
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If you’ve ever wondered what happens when you combine a fruit cart, a cargo bike, and a Piaggio Ape all in one vehicle, now you’ve got your answer. I submit, for your approval, this week’s feature for the Awesomely Weird Alibaba Electric Vehicle of the Week column – and it’s a beautiful doozie.
Feast your eyes on this salad slinging, coleslaw cruising, tuber taxiing produce chariot!
I think this electric vegetable trike might finally scratch the itch long felt by many of my readers. It seems every time I cover an electric trike, even the really cool ones, I always get commenters poo-poo-ing it for having two wheels in the rear instead of two wheels in the front. Well, here you go, folks!
Designed with two front wheels for maximum stability, this trike keeps your cucumbers in check through every corner. Because trust me, you don’t want to hit a pothole and suddenly be juggling peaches like you’re in Cirque du Soleil: Farmers Market Edition.
To avoid the extra cost of designing a linked steering system for a pair of front wheels, the engineers who brought this salad shuttle to life simply side-stepped that complexity altogether by steering the entire fixed front end. I’ve got articulating electric tractors that steer like this, and so if it works for a several-ton work machine, it should work for a couple hundred pounds of cargo bike.
Featuring a giant cargo bed up front with four cascading fruit baskets set up for roadside sales, this cargo bike is something of a blank slate. Sure, you could monetize grandma’s vegetable garden, or you could fill it with your own ideas and concoctions. Our exceedingly talented graphics wizard sees it as the perfect coffee and pastry e-bike for my new startup, The Handlebarista, and I’m not one to argue. Basically, the sky is the limit with a blank slate bike like this!
Sure, the quality doesn’t quite match something like a fancy Tern cargo bike. The rim brakes aren’t exactly confidence-inspiring, but at least there are three of them. And if they should all give out, or just not quite slow you down enough to avoid that quickly approaching brick wall, then at least you’ve got a couple hundred pounds of tomatoes as a tasty crumple zone.
The electrical system does seem a bit underpowered. With a 36V battery and a 250W motor, I don’t know if one-third of a horsepower is enough to haul a full load to the local farmer’s market. But I guess if the weight is a bit much for the little motor, you could always do some snacking along the way. On the other hand, all the pictures seem to show a non-electric version. So if this cart is presumably mobile on pedal power alone, then that extra motor assist, however small, is going to feel like a very welcome guest.
The $950 price is presumably for the electric version, since that’s what’s in the title of the listing, though I wouldn’t get too excited just yet. I’ve bought a LOT of stuff on Alibaba, including many electric vehicles, and the too-good-to-be-true price is always exactly that. In my experience, you can multiply the Alibaba price by 3-4x to get the actual landed price for things like these. Even so, $3,000-$4,000 wouldn’t be a terrible price, considering a lot of electric trikes stateside already cost that much and don’t even come with a quad-set of vegetable baskets on board!
I should also put my normal caveat in here about not actually buying one of these. Please, please don’t try to buy one of these awesome cargo e-trikes. This is a silly, tongue-in-cheek weekend column where I scour the ever-entertaining underbelly of China’s massive e-commerce site Alibaba in search of fun, quirky, and just plain awesomely weird electric vehicles. While I’ve successfully bought several fun things on the platform, I’ve also gotten scammed more than once, so this is not for the timid or the tight-budgeted among us.
That isn’t to say that some of my more stubborn readers haven’t followed in my footsteps before, ignoring my advice and setting out on their own wild journey. But please don’t be the one who risks it all and gets nothing in return. Don’t say I didn’t warn you; this is the warning.
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Environment
Podcast: Trump/GOP go after EV/solar, Tesla, Ford, GM EV sales, Electrek Formula Sun, and more
In the Electrek Podcast, we discuss the most popular news in the world of sustainable transport and energy. In this week’s episode, we discuss Trump’s Big Beautiful bill becoming law and going after EVs and solar, Tesla, Ford, and GM EV sales, Electrek Formula Sun, and more
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The show is live every Friday at 4 p.m. ET on Electrek’s YouTube channel.
As a reminder, we’ll have an accompanying post, like this one, on the site with an embedded link to the live stream. Head to the YouTube channel to get your questions and comments in.
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Here are a few of the articles that we will discuss during the podcast:
- Electrek FSGP 2025: New teams, new cars, same solar spirit
- Congress votes to send 2 million US jobs to China, increase deficit, energy costs
- Tesla (TSLA) confirms 384,000 deliveries in Q2 2025, right on expectations
- Tesla prototype sparks speculation: a Model Y, maybe slightly smaller
- Tesla launches Oasis Supercharger with solar farm and off-grid batteries
- Tesla unveils its LFP battery factory, claims it’s almost ready
- Here’s why Ford’s electric vehicle sales crashed by nearly a third in Q2
- The Chevy Equinox EV is GM’s breakout star, but that’s not the only surprise
- Xpeng launches G7, a new Tesla Model Y competitor for just $27,000
Here’s the live stream for today’s episode starting at 4:00 p.m. ET (or the video after 5 p.m. ET:
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