More good news for the automobile industry in Spain. From France, they confirm that the new Peugeot e-208 will be manufactured in Figueruelas, Zaragoza. We tell you all the plans for the new utility.
If last week we opened with important news from the Renault/Nissan/Mitsubishi Alliance, which confirmed the manufacture of the new Austral SUV in Palencia and the ASX in Valladolid, today we receive another great piece of information for the sector: the next Peugeot e-208 It will be produced in Figueruelas, Zaragoza, together with the Opel Corsa. These stimuli are lacking for an industry badly hit by sales and the semiconductor crisis.
Spain, therefore, seems to be confirming itself as the next electric car power… at least in terms of manufacturing. The French media thus assure today that the Stellantis Group has already decided to reorganize its entire strategy, transferring the production of the electric variant e-208 from Trnava (Slovakia) to Spain in the next Peugeot 208 2023. This announcement would have caused a great commotion in the Central European country.
The Smart Cars Project, Awarded to Slovakia
According to this information, the new “Smart Cars” program for the next small cars of the Stellantis Group, started with the new Citroën C3 from Brazil and India, would have already been awarded to the Trnava factory, which will mean that new models will now come out of there. developed from the “CMP Entry” technical platform, designed mainly in India by the TCS company, owned by Tata.
This circumstance has led the Stellantis group to decide to transfer the production of the next Peugeot e-208 to Figueruelas, once its next restyling is released in 2023. It would therefore be manufactured in the same plant in Zaragoza where it is already the Opel Corsa, its technical first cousin, is produced. Of course, the thermal versions that are still sold of the new Peugeot 208 will leave, as before, from the Moroccan city of Kenitra, where the entry and mid-range finishes are manufactured.
However, this same information also points to an important transformation in the strategy of the Stellantis factories, which will have to be seen finally how they affect Zaragoza. And it is that the “Smar Cars” project, according to what they point out from France, would also mean that in Slovakia not only the future Citroën C3 but also the substitutes for the C3 Aircross and Opel Crossland, would be manufactured in 2024, models that are now manufactured in Figueruelas.
This same new “CMP Entry” base would cause future Fiat models to also come out of Trnava, such as the Multipla SUV that it is already developing for 2024 or the new Panda in 2025. These small Stellantis urban cars will be offered with the 1.2 PureTech engine and with two electric versions that they call “accessible”, powered by a battery from the Chinese manufacturer Revolt.
The Future Opel Corsa and Peugeot 208 Will Also Be Manufactured in Zaragoza
However, as compensation, this same information indicates that the Spanish plant in Figueruelas will not only produce these electric vehicles, but from 2026 it will also be in charge of manufacturing the new generations of Opel Corsa (with internal name OV31) and Peugeot 208 (P31), supposedly already in all its commercialized versions.
These new Opel Corsa and Peugeot 208 would be developed on the new STLA Small platform, which will already be 100% electric although it will still allow the marketing of some thermal cars in the ranges, especially for the 208, also gasoline and with light hybridization. One of the leaks suggests that these variants could even stand out with the nickname of 208+, as already happened with specific entry models of the previous 206 and 207. We will expand the information in the coming months.
Photos: Largus
