Stellantis to Launch Hybrid Ethanol Cars in Brazil by 2024

Stellantis NV plans to start producing its first flex-hybrid vehicles powered by ethanol and electricity in Brazil by 2024, in an effort to come out ahead in the competition for the EV market in Latin America’s largest economy.

(Bloomberg) — Stellantis NV plans to start producing its first flex-hybrid vehicles powered by ethanol and electricity in Brazil by 2024, in an effort to come out ahead in the competition for the EV market in Latin America’s largest economy.

The world’s fifth-biggest automaker by sales has three prototypes combining electric with ethanol engines and one purely electric, according to Antonio Filosa, the group’s president in South America. About 60% of the group’s sales by 2030 will be of vehicles with its biofuels-hybrid technology, he said.

“Brazil has a large automotive market, a flexibility that nobody has and that has to be used,” said Filosa at the group’s development center in Betim, Minas Gerais. “We have multiple technologies and we import few components. With that, we will have greater competitiveness.”

Global automakers have been fighting a dispute over who will be able to put the solution that combines ethanol and electricity on Brazilian streets first. Volkswagen plans to introduce a total of 15 electric and flex-fuel vehicles by 2025, with hybrid models due to follow later.

The EV technologies will have to compete with flexible-fuel cars — powered by a mix of gasoline and ethanol — which are very popular in Brazil. Sales of hybrid or pure electric vehicles in Brazil accounted for only 2.5% of the total last year, according to the sector’s lobby group Anfavea. The technologies are expected to reach 7% of light vehicle sales by 2030, much lower than the world’s estimated average of 37%, according to Bright Consulting.