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MILAN (Reuters) — Stellantis announced 22.2 billion euros ($26.5 billion) of charges on Friday as it scales back its electric-vehicle ambitions, hammering its shares as traditional automakers pay the price of misjudging the switch to cleaner driving.
The move is the biggest in a series of writedowns, including at Ford and General Motors, as some automakers pull back from EVs in response to the Trump administration rolling back subsidies and weaker-than-expected demand.
Stellantis’ Milan-listed shares slumped as much as 30% to their lowest since the group’s 2021 creation with the merger of Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot maker PSA. The drop means the writedown is now larger than the company’s market value.
Western automakers face their biggest challenge since the invention of the car over a century ago: juggling investment between EVs and petrol models while contending with fast-rising Chinese rivals and higher trade barriers.
Stellantis is particularly exposed because it leans heavily on high-margin Jeep and Ram pickup truck sales in the U.S., where demand for EVs is especially subdued.
Under former CEO Carlos Tavares, forced out in late 2024 after U.S. sales collapsed, Stellantis had aimed for fully electric cars to make up 100% of its European sales and 50% of U.S. sales by 2030.
Industrywide, fully electric vehicles accounted for 19.5% of European sales last year, up...
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