Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares said legacy and new automakers should compete on the same page following a squabble with France over where it expands output of the electric Peugeot e-208 and after European leaders flung open their doors to Elon Musk.
Governments taking a keen interest in automakers is “a good thing” during the transition to electric vehicles, while stressing it’s important to avoid “discrimination,” Tavares said Monday.
Stellantis and France’s Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire have clashed over Stellantis favoring Spain to enlarge capacity for the electric version of the best-selling model.
“We have to be on the same playing field,” Tavares said in an interview at the Paris air show. “Why don’t we ask our competitors to make” mass-market EVs in France. “That is one idea.”