Stellantis, one of Europe's largest carmakers, has warned that unless electric cars become cheaper, the industry is doomed to failure.

Arnaud Deboeuf, Stellantis's chief manufacturing officer, said on Wednesday that the company aims to reduce the cost of manufacturing electric vehicles by 40 per cent by 2030.

Stellantis, a multinational carmaker headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, was formed in 2021 by the merger of Italian-American company Fiat Chrysler and French company Peugeot Citroen.

The group plans to make some parts internally and force suppliers to lower the price of their products.

Deboeuf said:

If electric cars don't get cheaper, the market will collapse, which is a huge challenge.

Stellantis plans to launch more than 75 all-electric models within a decade and transform at least some of its French car plants to produce electric cars. Although the company has invested heavily in launching new electric cars, it is committed to relying on software and services and additional revenue from some high-end cars to maintain strong revenues and profits.

This month, to support the Group's long-term strategy, Stellantis invested 33 million euros in its two global vehicle test centers to build first-class electric vehicle performance and master the highest level of self-driving technology, while ensuring the provision of safe and reliable technology to its customers.

This investment and other R & D capital investment will expand Stellantis Group's ability to plan future mobile travel globally, accelerate its transformation to a sustainable mobile travel technology company, and push the group towards the goal of the "Dare Forward 2030" strategic plan, especially to reduce carbon emissions by 50% from 2021 levels by 2030 and achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2038.

With the EU actively pushing the car industry to abandon fossil fuels, most manufacturers are likely to have to switch to electric cars within more than a decade.

Stellantis will abide by the decision, but CEO Carlos Tavares said:

EU policymakers do not seem to care whether carmakers have enough raw materials to support the shift.

He believes that the greater demand for batteries for electric vehicles between 2024 and 2027 means that battery production in the West is "at risk".

Stellantis is currently building five large battery plants in North America and Europe to produce 400 gigawatt-hour batteries by 2030. He added that the company did not rule out buying mines to ensure the supply of raw materials.

Nowadays, the price of electric cars is rising rapidly.

In the middle of this month, Tesla, Inc. sharply raised the prices of all electric vehicle products in the US market.

The price of Tesla, Inc. 's car will rise almost every month in 2021. Since then, the company slowed price increases in early 2022, and vehicle prices entered a period of stability. Tesla, Inc. 's last big price increase was in March 2022, while in April, some long-lasting models saw a slight price adjustment.

In the middle of this month, Tesla, Inc. adjusted the prices of all models. Among them, the price of Model 3 increased by $2000, the smallest increase, while the price of Model X rose sharply by $6000.

Rivian, the US electric carmaker, and Ford, the US car giant, made similar price increases earlier this year.

Ford's chief financial officer said rising raw material costs made some battery-powered models unprofitable and had to raise prices.