Stellantis building versatility into EV lineup
Company unveils four platforms that can accommodate multiple body styles
Stellantis EV Day on July 8 saw the company unveil its plans for an electrified future. With 14 brands stretched across the planet, it should be no surprise there was much to discuss. In the mix are four new platforms for battery-electric vehicles of different sizes and driving ranges.
Keeping things straightforward, they're called STLA Small, Medium, Large, and Frame.
Amusingly, Canadian gearhead (and Stellantis executive) Ralph Gilles referred to the acronym as “Stella,” bringing to mind visions of an old episode from The Simpsons.
It's the last two — Large and Frame — that are most important to the North American market, given buyers' propensity to like big vehicles which can go long distances.
Gilles touted the platform's ability to provide a “freedom on top surface” in terms of design, speaking of opportunities to build several different-looking vehicles on top of the same skateboard (our term, not Stellantis').
Computer-generated images were quickly shown on screen, displaying a wide array of body styles atop the platform. In fact, it was stated that eight vehicles will spawn from the STLA platforms (including a Ram 1500 EV on the STLA Frame) within the next three to five years.
Most interesting? A squared-off SUV described by Gilles as a “very capable Jeep off-roading white space opportunity vehicle.”
That statement requires a bit of parsing. The first few words are self explanatory, because the Jeep brand is unlikely to append its name to any vehicle that can't hold its own off-road.
The term “white space opportunity,” on the other hand, is very telling. It generally indicates a vehicle built to take advantage of a gap in the current model lineup — a so-called “white space” — where the company sees an opportunity to take a competitor to the woodshed and make bank.
While this was being uttered by Gilles, we were treated to an image of a burly, squared-off machine with a spare tire hanging out back and a distinctly Jeep-like stance. While it is true the Wrangler Unlimited currently looks an awful lot like this machine, the computer-generated image depicts a rig whose doors and roof seem to be fixed in place.
Could Jeep be planning to make an electrified three-row SUV with Wrangler-like design cues? To be frank, that would likely sell like proverbial hotcakes.
Gilles says the STLA Large platform will also produce a “long-range luxury sedan, an all-conquering muscle car, a heartof-the-market EV, heart-of-themarket SUV, as well as a new midsize truck.”
He also talked about how the batteries will be nice and low, placing electric drive motors at the edges, which will allow for a variety of wheel sizes and vehicle widths, not to mention ride heights.
By our count, the image of eight vehicles includes a Dodge coupe and crossover (the latter has the Dodge logo on its wheel centre caps), the brutish Jeep vehicle, a Jeep crossover, mid-size and full-sized Ram trucks, plus the “long-range luxury sedan” and another crossover-style machine. The last two could be Chrysler products, and it's worth noting both of them have the same design language around back, with a boomerang-type styling feature that wraps around into the rear haunches. The coupe-like vehicle appears to be a Dodge (for obvious reasons) and is the “all-conquering muscle car” to which Gilles refers.
As a twin-motor EV cranked to 11, it could very easily beat present-day Hellcat-powered vehicles in acceleration, if not burbly engine noise.
As the computer graphic disappears, the suggestion of a wild rear end treatment is shown, with pockets and scoops and spoilers galore.
Assuming the timeline promises are accurate, we shouldn't have to wait very long to find out what, exactly, the company has in store.