Stellantis, Dongfeng Plan EV Joint Venture in France for Voyah Production

Stellantis is nearing an agreement with Dongfeng Motor to form a new joint venture that plans to produce at least one Voyah-branded battery electric vehicle at the Rennes plant in France, according to sources cited by Reuters.

Under a signed memorandum of understanding, Stellantis is expected to hold a 51% stake in the venture, with remaining 49% held by Dongfeng Motor.

The Rennes facility, once a major French automotive hub with three production lines and peak annual capacity of 400,000 units in the early 2000s.

It now operates a single line producing the Citroën C5 Aircross following years of European capacity rationalisation by PSA.

The planned local production of Voyah, Dongfeng’s premium EV brand, would help mitigate EU import tariffs on China-made electric vehicles.

The move extends last week’s broader cooperation framework, under which Stellantis and Dongfeng agreed to jointly produce Peugeot and Jeep models in China for domestic and global markets.

Over the past month, Chinese automakers have increasingly sought to utilise underused European plants to accelerate localisation.

Stellantis recently deepened cooperation with Leapmotor, assigning its Spanish facility to EV production.

Meanwhile, BYD is in talks with Stellantis and other European automakers over idle factories, and Xpeng is reportedly exploring potential acquisitions of Volkswagen plants in Europe.

Dongfeng remains at an early stage in Europe, with Voyah recording roughly 3,210 cumulative sales in 2025 across limited markets including Italy and Poland, according to Dataforce.

Strategically, the company aims to reach 4 million global annual sales by 2030, with overseas markets expected to account for more than 40%, making Europe a key incremental growth region.