Stellantis plans to buy stake in Symbio

Automotive manufacturing corporation Stellantis on December 23 said it plans to acquire a stake in Symbio, a Faurecia Michelin hydrogen company and provider of fuel cell technologies for the mobility industry.

Faurecia, a company of the Group Forvia, Michelin and Stellantis have started exclusive negotiations for Stellantis to acquire a substantial stake in Symbio.

“Symbio’s technical roadmap perfectly matches with Stellantis’ hydrogen roll-out plans in Europe and in the U.S.,” said Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares. “This move will foster the speed of development to bring low-emission products to our customers, beyond traditional electric vehicles.”

Stellantis had in 2021 launched mid-size vans and is expanding its hydrogen offering to large vans as early as 2024 in Europe and 2025 in the US while further exploring opportunities for heavy-duty trucks.

“By the intention of acquiring a stake in Symbio, Stellantis confirms the robustness of Michelin and Faurecia’s approach to creating a global leader in zero-emission mobility. The new setup will accelerate and globalize Symbio’s growth to the benefit of its customers,” said Patrick Koller, CEO of Faurecia.

Florent Menegaux, CEO of Michelin, said, “Michelin is convinced that hydrogen fuel cell technology will make an effective contribution to decarbonising mobility and even beyond. This is what led Michelin to pioneer in this technology for more than 20 years. The arrival of Stellantis in Symbio’s capital would reinforce this conviction and would catalyze the tremendous industrial momentum we have built with Faurecia.”

In October 2022, Symbio announced its HyMotive project, which will increase its total production capacity in France to 100,000 systems/year by 2028 while generating 1,000 additional jobs.

The closing of the transaction is expected to occur in the first semester of 2023 and is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals.