Stellantis gathered the 2,000 workers at its Poissy plant, just west of Paris, yesterday to deliver the news that few found surprising: the site will stop producing cars by the end of 2028. It marks the end of nearly eight decades of vehicle manufacturing in the French capital region. Meanwhile, the group is seeking new Chinese collaborations to ease pressure from its overcapacity.
The Poissy plant currently builds two models, the Opel Mokka and the DS3. No successors had been earmarked for either, which fueled the rumor that Stellantis would stop manufacturing at the site. That fear has now become reality. Plant director Eric Haan and head of human resources Xavier Chereau broke the news during the works council session.
From cars to component mining
However, Stellantis isn’t abandoning the site. The company plans to invest €100 million to repurpose it for manufacturing replacement body parts and vehicle recycling. The facility will remain operational, but in a fundamentally different form. This means 1,200 jobs will survive the restructuring strategy. Still, it is a stark contrast to the heydays when Poissy employed 27,000 people in the seventies. At a stone’s throw distance from the plant, the same scenario reformed Renault Flins, where production of the Zoe was replaced by circular manufacturing.
The new direction is a direct consequence of a structural collapse in European car demand. Sales across the continent remain around 20% below 2019 levels, with the broader European market now stabilizing at roughly 13 million passenger cars per year.
Stellantis itself sold 5.4 million vehicles globally in 2025, compared to 6.2 million the year before. The group has been candid about its overcapacity problem since the 2021 merger that created it from PSA and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA).
Dongfeng enters the picture
To align demand with supply costs, the group is looking beyond hard shutdowns. According to Bloomberg, new guests have walked the corridors of other Stellantis factories this week: representatives of Dongfeng Motor. The Chinese state-owned group was once a major PSA partner and has been spotted visiting plants from the group in Germany and Italy.
Apparently, talks between the two companies have been revived, potentially covering joint car production in both Europe and China. Dongfeng could gain access to underused Stellantis manufacturing capacity and secure tariff-free access to the European market, but no deal has been confirmed by either side.
A Chinese Mokka?
The Dongfeng interest is separate from, but parallel to, a much more developed set of discussions already underway with Leapmotor (the Chinese EV maker in which Stellantis holds a roughly 21% stake and which has been a strong success). The two companies are in advanced talks to jointly develop an Opel-branded electric SUV, codenamed O3U, at Stellantis’ Zaragoza plant in Spain.
Production is targeted for 2028 at an annual output of around 50,000 units. The model would share its underlying architecture with Leapmotor’s B10, with Opel only handling exterior design. An Alfa Romeo derivative using the same platform is also being explored. For Opel, this could be the successor to the Mokka from Poissy.
Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa is due to present a full strategic plan on May 21. What’s already clear is that Stellantis is betting heavily on Chinese partnerships to fill the product gaps left by its canceled EV programs, using underutilized European factories as the bargaining chip. Whether that’s industrial pragmatism or a sign that the group has run out of other ideas may well be the central question of that May presentation.
