Stellantis paid fines totaling $190.7 million for failing to meet U.S. fuel economy standards in the previous two years. The automaker paid one of the civil penalties of $78.4 million in March and a penalty of $112.3 million in May, according to data released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and reported by Reuters. The federal agency oversees the Corporate Average Fuel Economy Program, which sets efficiency standards for vehicles.
Fines totaling $190 million for Stellantis and reportedly another $460 million pending
According to the NHTSA, the fines were due to failure to meet fuel economy requirements for model years 2019 and 2020. In recent hours, Reuters reported that Stellantis has a much larger penalty of $459.7 million that is still pending. NHTSA and Stellantis confirmed that the figure, which is also for model years 2019 and 2020, is correct.
A statement from Stellantis spokesperson Jodi Tinson noted that the penalties were accrued before Stellantis existed and “are not indicative of the company’s direction.” The penalties are attributed to Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, which merged with Groupe PSA to form the current group in 2021.
“Stellantis is investing more than 50 billion euros worldwide in electrification over the decade to welcome a global product offensive that includes the launch of two dozen BEVs for the U.S. market by 2030,” the statement reads. “Additionally, we aspire to a carbon-neutral future with our commitment to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2038.”
Last year, Stellantis paid more than $235 million in fines for model years 2018 and 2019. Federal regulators have made the standards stricter, increasing fuel economy standards and reinstating higher penalties for automakers that fail to meet requirements by selling vehicles with too low fuel economy averages.