A few weeks before the launch of the new Citroën C3 Aircross, which will be produced for Latin America, the Porto Real plant in Brazil is receiving a major investment from Stellantis, with the allocation of a new model and the hybrid ethanol technology that the group intends to develop in Brazil.
Antonio Filosa, Stellantis President for South America, made the announcement to the Governor of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Cláudio Castro, during his visit to the Porto Real plant. The Stellantis president also presented the governor and other members of the government with the new Citroën C3 Aircross SUV, a model that will soon go into production at Porto Real. The meeting confirmed the company's commitment to the industrial development of the automotive sector in Rio de Janeiro.
According to Antonio Filosa, "The Stellantis Automotive Hub in Porto Real is strategic for the future of our company and for the development of sustainable and accessible mobility. Its facilities have received significant investments in recent years, and the production systems and equipment of the Automotive Hub are fully updated with the best global technological references from Stellantis, while the employees are trained and have the skills and talents needed to drive growth. Porto Real unit. In addition, thanks to recent innovations and investments, the Stellantis Automotive Hub in Porto Real is ready to receive models from the different brands that make up Stellantis. This is a strategic plan for the Group's development in South America".
The Porto Real plant is one of Stellantis' five plants in Latin America and will benefit from a new investment cycle of R$ 2.5 billion (+475 million euros) until 2025, an amount that will be dedicated to the development of new products, research and development, and the modernisation of the industrial unit's facilities, systems and equipment.
Of this total, €63 million has already been invested in the development of a variant of the CMP platform, which is highly flexible and can be used in models from different Stellantis brands, as well as being compatible with thermal, hybrid and electric engines. The platform will form the basis for the Group's continued innovation and will provide the Stellantis Automotive Hub in Porto Real with the necessary technical conditions for the production of hybrid vehicles, using the recently announced bio-hybrid technology.
The CMP platform is the basis of the C-Cubed project, a new family of vehicles consisting of three models. The first to be launched was the new Citroën C3, a pioneer of the new platform and a commercial success, winning awards such as Best National Car (Car Magazine, 2022) and Best Urban Car in the World (World Car Awards, 2023). The next model to be launched is the C3 Aircross, which was presented to the Governor during the meeting. The family will be completed by a third model, currently under development, which will increase Polo production in the coming years.
Bio-Hybrid
The new Bio-Hybrid hybrid powertrain technology, developed in Brazil, combines flexible thermal energy and electrification. There are three platforms that can be flexibly adopted across the range of brands and products, providing several accessible solutions for the transition to sustainable mobility. In addition, the Bio-Hybrid technology is flexible in its application and can be equipped with several models produced by Stellantis. It is compatible with the production lines of the company's three plants - Betim (MG), Porto Real (RJ) and Goiana (PE). Stellantis is therefore also part of the multi-regional production strategy.
Antonio Filosa continues: "Bio-hybrid is part of the technological path towards accessible and sustainable mobility that Stellantis is following. We want to promote the virtues of ethanol as a renewable fuel, whose production cycle absorbs most of its emissions, by combining biofuel propulsion with electric systems. It is an opportunity to reindustrialise and reconfigure the national automotive components industry, which is diversified, complex and very important for the Brazilian economy.
The development of new hybridisation technologies is part of Stellantis' long-term strategic plan, Dare Forward 2030, which aims to decarbonise the company's processes and products by 2038, with a 50% reduction in emissions by 2030.
Finally, Stellantis is growing at its Porto Real plant, where it intends to invest again to introduce a new model (the future C3 Aircross coupé?) and its bio-hybrid technology, which could give the group's models a real competitive edge. At a time when some companies are closing their plants in Brazil, this announcement also demonstrates the Group's desire to continue its growth in this region, which, along with India and Africa Middle East, is one of its future growth drivers.