India is emerging as a critical manufacturing and export base for global automaker Stellantis as the company plans to develop and assemble a new Jeep model in the country through its joint venture with Tata Motors for global markets.
The move marks a strategic shift in Stellantis’ India playbook, with the company increasingly viewing the country not merely as a sales market for brands such as Jeep and Citroën, but as a low-cost engineering, manufacturing and export hub for future new energy vehicles (NEVs).
According to Grégoire Olivier, head of Asia Pacific region at Stellantis, the India-developed Jeep project will be one of the five globally-oriented products being developed in Asia using local partnerships and cost-efficient engineering ecosystems. He said the Tata partnership gives Stellantis access to local engineering scale, supply chains and manufacturing competitiveness, that are becoming harder to replicate in Europe and North America.
“With Tata, we are strengthening our product offering in India and supporting exports to APAC, Middle East, Africa and South America through synergies in manufacturing, supply chain, product and technology,” Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa said during the company’s Investor Day 2026 presentation.
Olivier said the India-developed Jeep programme would help Stellantis remain “asset light” while improving global competitiveness. He added that the company is also deepening its focus on India’s role in the global EV and smart-car ecosystem, citing the Citroën smart car programme as an example of affordable compact vehicles engineered out of India.
Stellantis plans to export India- and China-developed vehicles to over 50 countries worldwide, with cumulative sales from these programmes expected to exceed €60 billion over the next five years.
The India strategy forms part of Stellantis’ broader Asia-Pacific roadmap, which increasingly relies on partnerships rather than standalone manufacturing investments. Alongside Tata Motors, Stellantis is also strengthening collaborations with Chinese EV maker Leapmotor and Dongfeng Motor Corporation to develop electric and Jeep models for global markets.
Olivier said Stellantis aims to sell 100,000 “localised cars” globally by 2028 through its Tata and Dongfeng partnerships, while targeting a doubling of its APAC business with adjusted operating margins of 4–6%.
The strategy comes as Stellantis reshapes its global operations under its “Fastlane 2030” roadmap amid rising Chinese competition, regional fragmentation, growing cost pressures and uneven EV adoption trends across markets.
The company plans to invest more than €60 billion by 2030, supporting over 60 new product launches and 50 model refreshes globally. Stellantis said it will continue pursuing a multi-energy strategy spanning hybrids, battery-electric vehicles and efficient combustion engines, while also ramping up investments in software-defined vehicles, AI-enabled technologies and autonomous-driving systems.
