Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa has a blunt message for anyone expecting a rapid US electric vehicle transition: don't hold your breath. Speaking at an event alongside the Paris motor show, Filosa said EVs remain stuck at just 7% of US auto sales, and that America's shift to electric cars will arrive later and move slower than in other regions.
Filosa described the early US EV push as "a bubble driven by regulation," arguing that when rules were loosened, many buyers quickly returned to gasoline and hybrid options. That's a significant statement from the head of one of the world's largest automakers, which owns brands like Jeep, Ram, and Chrysler in North America.
Why the US is different
The US market has always been a tougher sell for EVs than Europe or China. Americans tend to drive longer distances, buy bigger vehicles, and have less consistent access to charging infrastructure. But Filosa's comments point to something more specific: the regulatory environment itself is less predictable.
When government mandates or incentives push EVs hard, sales spike. When those rules soften or change, buyers retreat. That volatility makes it hard for automakers to commit to a single powertrain strategy. Filosa's view is that the US will eventually electrify, but at a smaller scale and on a slower timetable than Europe's faster rollout.
For Stellantis, this matters because North America is a profit engine. The company's product plans for big pickups and SUVs now lean more heavily on so-called "range-extenders" — vehicles that run on electricity but carry a small gasoline engine to generate power when the battery runs low. Filosa said interest in that approach is "customer driven," suggesting it's not just a regulatory workaround but a genuine market preference.
Trade barriers and regional markets
Filosa also pointed to rising trade barriers that are making the auto industry more regional. Tariffs, local content rules, and supply chain restrictions mean automakers can no longer build a single global car and sell it everywhere. Instead, they must tailor vehicles to local rules and supply chains.
That's a structural shift. For decades, the industry benefited from global scale — one platform, one factory, one set of suppliers serving the world. Now, companies like Stellantis are being forced to duplicate engineering, factories, and supplier networks across regions. That quietly raises fixed costs.
The challenge is to keep shared technology platforms — software, driver-assist features, and batteries — consistent enough to benefit from global scale, while still adapting the vehicle itself to local conditions. It's a balancing act that will test even the most experienced automakers.
What it means for investors
For everyday investors, Filosa's comments highlight a key reality: the EV transition is not a single global event. It's a series of regional transitions happening at different speeds. That has direct implications for how automakers spend money and how profitable they can be.
If the US is slower to adopt EVs, companies may need to fund multiple powertrain lineups in parallel — gasoline, hybrid, EV, and range-extender — for years. That duplication can eat into margins. On the other hand, a slower US shift could be a short-term positive for automakers that still make big profits from gas-powered trucks and SUVs.
Stellantis has already shown how regional differences can hit its bottom line. In a recent quarter, North America shipments slid 12%, forcing the company to lean more on Europe. That's a reminder that the US market is not just big — it's volatile.
Trade tensions make the juggling act harder. When "build local" becomes a requirement rather than a choice, automakers lose flexibility. They can't simply shift production to the cheapest or most efficient location. Profits then depend less on whether the sales mix is more EVs or more hybrids in any given year, and more on whether a company can reuse the expensive bits — software, batteries, and advanced driver-assistance systems — across regions through partnerships, without paying to reinvent them market by market.
Filosa's comments also echo a broader theme in the industry: the pace of change is uneven. While some markets push ahead with aggressive electrification targets, others are pulling back. For investors, that means watching not just EV sales numbers, but also how automakers manage the transition in different regions. Companies that can balance regional differences while maintaining global scale will likely be better positioned than those that bet everything on a single, fast transition.
For now, Stellantis is planning for several EV transitions at once — a slower one in the US, a faster one in Europe, and a highly competitive one in China. That's a complex strategy, but it may be the only realistic one in a world where the road to electric is anything but straight.
