With the Mokka-E and the Corsa-E, Opel has two moderately popular e-cars on offer. But while the growing market for electric mobility is only marginally profitable for the Rüsselsheim-based company, the parent company Stellantis now seems to have landed a big fish. The focus here is not only on the production of vehicles, but above all on the associated software. The automotive group expects this to be a gigantic billion-dollar business.
The automotive industry of tomorrow
Stellantis itself expects sales to increase by four billion euros by 2026. Four years after that, sales should already be at 20 billion euros. The basis of the business plan is the company’s own vehicles. And there are many of them. Stellantis, for example, not only unites Opel. Vehicle manufacturers such as Peugeot, Chrysler and Citroen also belong to the large group. If Stellantis’ forecasts are correct, there should be almost 34 million of the group’s cars on the roads worldwide by the early 2030s. In view of the current figure of just under 12 million vehicles, that sounds quite ambitious.
Stellantis is, of course, thinking about the automotive industry of tomorrow in his plans. If current developments are anything to go by, this will mean a movement further and further away from owning a car. Instead, subscription models and car sharing are likely to move further and further into the focus of consumers. Stellantis envisages a similar development with the associated on-board software. The company also wants to offer this to end customers in the form of subscriptions. On top of that, features such as fleet management are to be made possible thanks to networked vehicles.
In-house electric chips
To buy independence, Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares plans to develop his own chips. These are not only to cover the group’s own needs almost completely. On top of that, competitors are also to be supplied with suitable electronic chips. The current chip shortage seems to have been a kind of wake-up call for the entire industry. Volkswagen is following a similar path. The traditional German company also wants to design and manufacture its own semiconductors. In-house development not only has the advantage of being independent of chip manufacturers. It would also give the company a decisive advantage in the increasingly important field of autonomous driving.
The industry is looking for IT experts
It’s really exciting to see how the demand for automotive professionals has changed. Whereas until a few years ago it was exclusively automotive mechanics or mechatronics engineers who were desperately sought, people are now going in search of IT experts. These are to help with software development and maintenance. Just how serious the parent company of Opel is is clear from the investment the company is making. Stellantis wants to invest a total of almost 30 billion euros in both e-mobility and the corresponding software development.