Idrogeno, the French Symbio taken over by Stellantis, Michelin and Faurecia-Corriere.it

New step forward by Stellantis in green mobility. The car manufacturer has in fact signed a joint agreement with Michelin and the seventh big world component manufacturer Faurecia (a former subsidiary of Stellantis which will become ForVia after taking over the German Hella) to acquire, each with 33.3%, Symbio, a company zero-emission hydrogen mobility sector. All companies are French. The deal had been announced in December 2022. “Acquiring an equal stake in Symbio will strengthen our leadership position in hydrogen vehicles, supporting our fuel cell van production in France, and is a perfect complement to our growing battery electric vehicle offering.

Hydrogen fuel cells are essential and Symbio will become a major player in the battle to protect future generations,” explains Carlos Tavares, CEO of Stellantis. Symbio, based in Vénissieux (Lyon) with facilities in North America, has plans to produce 50,000 fuel cells per year by 2025, leveraging the Saint-Fons gigafactory, which will begin production in the second half of 2023. Last October, the group presented the HyMotive project to increase its production capacity in France up to 100,000 systems a year by 2028, with the creation of 1,000 jobs across the Alps. Stellantis’ strategic plan includes the expansion of the offer of hydrogen vehicles to large vans starting from 2024 in Europe and from 2025 in the United States, as well as studying further opportunities in the heavy vehicle sector. With the Citroen and Peugeot brands, the carmaker is already continuing the construction and marketing of hydrogen-powered commercial vehicles. Also Tavares in October 2022 announced in the Hordain factory the start of mass production of Peugeot, Citroën and Opel light commercial vehicles in the hydrogen version, equipped with fuel cells.