Legacy automaker Stellantis (STLA) is having a bit of a back-and-forth moment when it comes to alternative-fuel vehicles. While it is advancing in electrics, it is pulling back on hydrogen. This combination left investors a bit nonplussed, and sent shares up fractionally in Tuesday afternoon’s trading.
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Electrics are advancing at Stellantis, as demonstrated by its move to take the Leapmotor brand down to South Africa. Starting this September, some South African Stellantis dealers will also sell Leapmotor electric vehicles, starting with the C10 SUV. The C10 has already had a successful debut in Mauritius, reports note, so advancing into South Africa seems like a sufficiently rational step. More models are set to follow over the course of 2025 and into 2026.
In general, the Leapmotor line is on the rise. Leapmotor delivered 48,006 vehicles back in June. That not only proved a record by itself, but also represented the second consecutive month that Leapmotor sales broke records. That suggests an upward trend in the making. With several facelifted models coming to the market in the next few months, and some outright new models coming as well, Leapmotor may be able to establish itself as a go-to brand. Given that sales are already on the rise, word-of-mouth promotion may start to help as well.
Oh, The Humanity
Meanwhile, Stellantis is also pulling out of the hydrogen market. Its recent losses, thanks largely to tariffs and supply costs, prompted Stellantis to pull out of the hydrogen fuel cell market altogether, reports note. The hydrogen development program is now gone, and plans to produce hydrogen-powered vans for the commercial market are likewise out.
Stellantis’ Chief Operating Officer for Enlarged Europe, Jean-Philippe Imparato, noted that the technology was essentially a “niche” market that ultimately had “…no prospects of mid-term economic sustainability.” Worse yet, even if Stellantis had managed to develop the vehicles effectively, a lack of refueling infrastructure—have you ever tried to buy hydrogen?—would make the vehicles largely useless in the field.
Is Stellantis Stock a Good Buy Right Now?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Hold consensus rating on STLA stock based on four Buys, 10 Holds, and two Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 53.93% loss in its share price over the past year, the average STLA price target of $10.90 per share implies 17.2% upside potential.
