Stellantis Investor Day focusing on software

Stellantis has begun its first Investor Day, focusing on software, which can yield profits throughout the ownership of a vehicle. The company said that global software revenue had already grown to 2.5 times its prior figure within three years; nearly 14 million vehicles can be monetized. In 2023, the company topped five million users of subscription-based products.

These products are not just consumer-facing, such as satellite radio, Internet capability, and so forth; they also include heavily refreshed and newly introduced fleet products, which provide commercial fleets with live data, helping both drivers and dispatchers. BEV routing is now based on realtime data via mobile phones.

STLA Brain, SmartCockpit, and Autodrive are all due for launches within vehicles by the end of 2025. Brain cuts the number of electronic control units per vehicle in half, to around 60 per vehicle, allowing faster feature development; this essentially moves many functions to software. SmartCockpit is meant to reduce the number of needed choices in menus, increasing ease of use and safety. AutoDrive is meant to increase the time and distance people can use advanced driver assistance. ChatGPT enhanced virtual assistants are coming as well.

In actual vehicles, the company is working on a new “asset-light” Chinese launch with Leapmotor, a global market presence for “Best-Cost Country opportunities” (engineering and building products in the cheapest possible place around the world), and rapidly developing next-generation power sources. The Best-Cost Country plan is likely to result in many layoffs in Europe and North America, and booms in South America, India, and elsewhere.

The company confirmed its 2024 financial guidance, with positive free cash flow and at least €7.7 billion in dividends and buybacks in 2024, achieved partly via harsh cost-cutting including, allegedly, reduced sanitation and lack of tools like work gloves in the factories. In 2025, Stellantis intends to try to increase its dividend payouts above its recent 25% norm.