Key Points:
- Stellantis plans to form a new joint venture with Chinese automaker Dongfeng to build electric vehicles.
- The Franco-Italian company will hold a 51% stake in the partnership and assemble cars at its Rennes factory.
- Producing the luxury Voyah models in France helps Dongfeng completely avoid heavy European Union import tariffs.
- The Rennes plant currently produces just 1 model on a single assembly line, down from its historical peak of 400,000 cars a year.
Stellantis plans to announce a massive new joint venture with Chinese automaker Dongfeng. The two companies struck a major deal to build at least 1 fully electric vehicle for the state-owned Chinese carmaker. Workers will build these new cars right inside the historic Stellantis factory located in Rennes, France. Two inside sources familiar with the matter recently shared these private details. They noted that the companies could announce the final agreement to the public as early as Wednesday morning. This partnership marks a significant shift in how global car companies collaborate.
The newly proposed joint venture gives Stellantis a controlling 51% ownership stake. The companies have already signed an official letter of intent to solidify their shared manufacturing plans. This partnership focuses heavily on Voyah, the premier luxury brand under the larger Dongfeng corporate umbrella. By building these high-end luxury electric vehicles inside a French factory, Dongfeng scores a massive financial victory. The Chinese company will avoid the heavy import tariffs recently imposed by the European Union on Chinese-made electric vehicles. Producing cars locally saves the company millions of dollars in international shipping and border taxes.
This new factory agreement builds directly on top of another major deal the companies announced just last week. Under that previous arrangement, Dongfeng agreed to manufacture Jeep- and Peugeot-brand cars in China for the local Asian market. These rapid business moves happen right before a major corporate event. Stellantis plans to hold an important capital markets day on Thursday. During this event, Chief Executive Officer Antonio Filosa will pitch his aggressive business plans to eager financial investors. Filosa desperately wants to regain lost market share across both North America and Europe, and he sees global partnerships as the best tool for the job.
The Rennes joint venture puts Stellantis right at the forefront of a major industry trend. Traditional European automakers currently hold massive amounts of underutilized factory space. To address this costly problem, they actively encourage Chinese vehicle companies to rent out their idle assembly lines. This creative strategy helps legacy automakers pay their overhead bills and keep local workers employed. At the same time, it gives Chinese brands a fast and easy track into the lucrative European consumer market. Both sides win from this shared industrial arrangement.
Dongfeng really needs this European manufacturing boost to grow its business. The Chinese company is a relative newcomer to Europe and currently sells cars in only a handful of regional markets, including Italy and Poland. The sales numbers remain quite low right now. Throughout 2025, the company sold only 3,210 Dongfeng- and Voyah-brand vehicles across Europe. Executives know they must boost these numbers quickly if they want to survive the fierce global transition to electric cars.
Despite these small initial numbers, Dongfeng holds massive ambitions for the future. During the popular Beijing car show last month, company executives outlined their grand vision. Dongfeng aims to hit a massive global sales target of 4 million vehicles by 2030. The company expects more than 40% of those total sales to come directly from overseas markets. Reaching that ambitious goal requires a heavy physical manufacturing presence outside of China.
A brutal electric vehicle price war back home forces Chinese automakers to look outward. China is the world’s largest car market, but tense local competition erodes profit margins. To survive, Chinese car companies must expand rapidly across the globe. They desperately search for new regions that offer greater sales volumes and higher profit margins than their domestic market can provide.
Other Chinese carmakers follow the same playbook. Companies like Chery actively seek to rent excess factory capacity from legacy European automakers. They view this rental strategy as the absolute fastest route to manufacturing vehicles in the region. Meanwhile, the manufacturing giant Magna already produces cars for the Chinese brands Xpeng and GAC at a large factory in Austria.
Stellantis shows no hesitation in partnering with Chinese brands. Earlier this month, the Franco-Italian automaker announced a separate deal with another Chinese partner named Leapmotor. The two companies will build cars jointly in Spain. Stellantis and Leapmotor established their joint venture in 2023, and Stellantis holds a 51% stake in the venture. Even rival Volkswagen recently admitted it is weighing whether to share its European factory capacity with Chinese carmakers.
Adding new production lines will breathe fresh life into the aging Rennes plant. The facility was originally built in 1960 to help industrialize the remote Brittany region of France. During its absolute peak in the early 2000s, the factory hummed with incredible activity. Workers produced more than 400,000 vehicles annually across 3 busy assembly lines.
However, the automotive industry changed, and the factory suffered as a result. Corporate leaders restructured the entire Rennes facility during the 2010s to cut operational costs. Today, the massive plant operates as a shadow of its former self. The facility currently produces only 1 single model, the Citroen C5 Aircross SUV. Workers assemble this lone vehicle on just 1 active production line. The new Dongfeng partnership promises to put that wasted factory space back to good use, finally.
