Florian Huettl, CEO of Opel, knows well that the future of the automotive industry is electric. For this reason, the brand will not produce combustion engines from next year and will only sell electric vehicles in Europe starting from 2028. However, the Opel’s CEO also says that everything still costs too much. Huettl, in fact, states that he is aware of the importance of reducing the cost of electric cars to make them more accessible and more widespread. Also for reasons related to costs, it is not known, at the moment, how and if a new economical Opel electric car produced in Germany will arrive.
According to Opel, it is impossible to produce a 25,000 euro electric car at the moment
From Opel, there are no doubts about the path to follow: the only road for the future is zero-emission energy, despite the various obstacles encountered, especially recently due to the removal of incentives for the purchase of electric cars by the German government. Immediately after, the demand for such vehicles drastically decreased, leading some car manufacturers to review their electric car targets and reconsider gasoline models again.
With a transition that appears complex, problematic and at times utopian, Huettl states that Opel intends to become independent of subsidies as soon as possible precisely to move towards accessible electric mobility. According to the CEO of Opel: “We will all drive electric cars. We do not see customers going back to combustion engines after trying an electric car. Even I, when I try combustion cars, am always happy to go back to my electric one. Once you get used to it, you don’t go back.”
A low-cost electric car, for the brand within Stellantis since 2021, is crucial for Opel’s electrification plans. As for other European brands, the goal is to sell an electric car under 25,000 euros to be attractive to consumers. Currently, the Corsa Electric is Opel’s cheapest electric car, with a price starting from about 30,000 euros, far from the 25,000 euros target. In Stellantis, however, there are brands like Citroën that already sell electric cars below this threshold, such as the e-C3. Even the new all-electric Fiat Grande Panda is expected to cost less than 25,000 euros.
“We cannot produce a 25,000 euro electric car in Germany. Costs are too high, for example, the price of energy is double compared to France,” declared the CEO. “Even the cost of labor is high. This is offset by a high level of German training and engineering. If Opel wants to produce its cars in Germany, the customer must also be willing to pay more for this.” Right after the duties arrived from the EU, the Chinese option is also impractical. For Opel, therefore, going to China to produce its 25,000 euros car is not the solution. It remains to be seen how Opel will succeed in developing and producing this economical car.