Gary Zhou 
The Tesla-incited price war that has caused electric vehicle prices to be slashed nearly across the board in 2023 has one less participant, as Stellantis boss Carlos Tavares said on Thursday that the company has no intention of getting involved.
Instead, Tavares says Stellantis will pay attention to the market as a whole and adjust accordingly. If every automaker comes out with substantial price cuts, the company would likely be forced to adapt and adjust its costs, he said during a plant visit in Metz, France.
Tesla is one of the companies that has the most power in the EV market because of its vertical integration, increasing scalability of manufacturing, and other factors that allow it to control its prices at the snap of CEO Elon Musk’s fingers.
During the company’s most recent earnings call, Tesla admitted that it could not reveal its process for reducing prices but did state it regularly takes into account various market factors to determine whether it should adjust the cost of its vehicles.
In response to Tesla’s price cuts, other car companies were forced to adopt a similar strategy to keep up. Tesla already offers a better EV than most companies in terms of software, charging infrastructure, and other critical factors. Making its vehicles more affordable is essentially a death wish for competitors.
Ford responded directly by cutting the prices of the Mustang Mach-E. BMW and Volkswagen followed up with adjustments of their own.
However, other car companies have instead opted not to get involved. GM is one of them.
Stellantis will be added to that list, and with a variety of brands across the company’s umbrella, and has big plans to develop EVs centered around its four STLA platforms — Small, Medium, Large, and Frame.
Stellantis has also transitioned its Cassino production facility in Italy to build EVs.
