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Stellantis Takes a 26.5 Billion Dollar Hit on EVs: What Went Wrong at Jeep and Dodge Parent | Taha Abbasi
Taha Abbasi examines the Stellantis writedown that’s sending shockwaves through the automotive industry: the parent company of Jeep, Dodge, Chrysler, and Ram has taken a staggering $26.5 billion hit on its EV investments. But the real story isn’t about one company’s failure — it’s about what happens when legacy automakers bet billions on EVs without a clear product strategy.
The Scale of the Damage
A $26.5 billion writedown is not a rounding error. To put it in perspective, that’s more than Rivian’s entire market capitalization. It’s enough to fund Tesla’s Cybercab development several times over. It represents years of investment in EV platforms, battery plants, and manufacturing retooling that Stellantis now admits won’t generate the returns originally projected.
As Taha Abbasi has consistently argued, the EV transition rewards companies that build vehicles people want, not vehicles they’re forced to make. Stellantis appears to have done the latter — investing billions in compliance EVs designed to meet regulatory targets rather than customer demands.
Where the Money Went
Stellantis spread its EV investments across multiple brands and platforms:
- STLA Large/Medium/Small platforms — Three dedicated EV platforms that require massive tooling investment
- Battery joint ventures — Partnerships for North American and European gigafactories
- Brand electrification — EV versions of Jeep, Dodge, Ram, and other nameplates
- Software development — In-house vehicle software and connected services
The problem wasn’t the strategy on paper — it was the execution. While Tesla shipped millions of EVs and BYD became the world’s largest EV maker, Stellantis struggled with delays, quality issues, and products that didn’t generate consumer excitement.
The Deeper Problem: Culture
Taha Abbasi identifies a pattern that goes beyond strategy: Stellantis (and its predecessor Fiat Chrysler) has a cultural resistance to technological transformation. The company’s DNA is built around internal combustion — powerful HEMI engines, Jeep off-road capability, muscle car heritage. Electrification requires a fundamentally different engineering culture, and you can’t buy that with capital investment alone.
Contrast this with Tesla, which was born electric, or Rivian, which was founded as an EV company. These companies don’t have to overcome decades of combustion-engine institutional knowledge. They designed their organizations, supply chains, and engineering processes around electric powertrains from day one.
Lessons for the Industry
The Stellantis writedown offers clear lessons that Taha Abbasi thinks every automaker should internalize:
- Compliance EVs fail. Building an EV just to meet regulations produces a product nobody wants. Build an EV that’s genuinely better than the ICE version.
- Platform proliferation is expensive. Stellantis tried to electrify every brand simultaneously. Tesla succeeded by starting with one platform and perfecting it.
- Speed matters. The EV market rewards first movers. Years of delays let competitors capture mindshare and establish charging networks.
- Software is the product. Modern EVs are defined by their software experience. Companies that treat software as an afterthought will always trail.
What Happens Now
Stellantis won’t abandon EVs entirely — regulation won’t allow it. But expect a dramatic scaling back of ambitions. The company will likely consolidate its EV efforts around fewer platforms, delay some brand electrification timelines, and lean harder on plug-in hybrids as a bridge technology.
The irony is that this retrenchment may benefit Tesla and other pure EV companies. Every dollar Stellantis pulls back from EV investment is a dollar less of competition in the market. Every delayed model launch gives Tesla’s Cybertruck, Model Y, and Cybercab more runway to establish dominance.
The Bifurcation Continues
As Taha Abbasi has noted in his coverage of Detroit’s EV challenges, the automotive industry is splitting into two groups: companies that are building the future of transportation, and companies that are writing down their failed attempts to do so.
Stellantis just made clear which group it belongs to. The $26.5 billion question is whether it can change course before the next writedown — or whether legacy automakers are structurally incapable of making the transition.
Taha Abbasi suspects we already know the answer. But the next few years will make it undeniable.
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About the Author: Taha Abbasi is a technology executive, CTO, and applied frontier tech builder. Read more on Grokpedia | YouTube: The Brown Cowboy | tahaabbasi.com
Taha Salahuddin Abbasi
Engineer. Builder. Architect.
