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In December, new car registrations in the EU expanded by 12.8%, marking the fifth consecutive month of growth this year, said the European Automobile Manufacturers Association. Despite this positive result, only two of the region's four major markets recorded growth. "The German and Italian car markets had an extremely strong end to 2022, posting double-digit increases of 38.1% and 21.0% respectively. Spain, on the other hand, suffered a substantial decline, whereas France remained stable," the group said. Publicly traded automakers include Ford (F), General Motors (GM), Honda (HMC), Mercedes-Benz Group (DDAIF), Nissan (NSANY), Stellantis (STLA), Tesla (TSLA), Toyota (TM) and Volkswagen (VWAGY).

Stellantis and Terrafame announced the signing of a supply agreement for nickel sulphate to be used in electric vehicle batteries. Beginning in 2025, Finland-based Terrafame will supply Stellantis with nickel sulphate over the five-year term of the agreement. The Terrafame agreement is a part of Stellantis' aggressive electrification strategy and will cover a significant portion of the needs for sustainable regionally sourced nickel.

Stellantis and Vulcan Energy Resources have signed a binding term sheet for the first phase of a multiphase project to develop new geothermal projects aimed at decarbonizing the energy mix of Stellantis' Russelsheim industrial site in Germany, which is home to both the DS4 and Opel Astra. Based upon current assumptions, the project could provide a significant portion of the industrial site's annual energy needs starting in 2025. The first phase of the project, located at the northernmost extent of Vulcan's focus area in the Upper Rhine Valley, will include a pre-feasibility study for the construction of geothermal assets for Stellantis' facility, carried out by Vulcan. If successful, the next phase will focus on drilling and more advanced studies and development. Stellantis will aim to source funding for 50% of the project development, which is also supported by the local government. Stellantis and Vulcan will aim to produce clean electricity and supply it to the grid for both internal and external consumption, in accordance with Germany's Renewable Energy Act, while also producing heat to be transferred to Stellantis' manufacturing site.

Stellantis N.V. and Element 25 announced the signing of a binding agreement for Element 25 to supply battery grade, high purity manganese sulphate monohydrate to Stellantis for use in electric vehicle, or EVm battery packs. The five-year agreement calls for shipments to begin in 2026, a total volume of 45 kilotons, and options to extend the supply term and volumes. Element 25 will source the material from its Butcherbird project in Western Australia and plans to construct a processing facility in the United States. Stellantis will make an equity investment in Element 25. Performance of the parties under the binding term sheet is conditioned on satisfactory completion of technical due diligence and a feasibility study.

Stellantis announced the establishment of Mobilisights, an independent business unit, fully dedicated to growing the company's data as a service business and developing and licensing innovative B2B products, applications and services. Mobilisights products will be available to a diverse set of entities, including private enterprises, public-sector utilities, education and research institutions, fostering data-driven decision making and enabling a wide-ranging portfolio of applications and services. "The vision for Mobilisights is to contribute to a smarter world, leveraging the insights that vehicle data provide to inspire innovative applications and services that can transform and dramatically improve the day-to-day lives of users and businesses," said Sanjiv Ghate, Mobilisights CEO. "Harnessed effectively, sensor and other data available from connected vehicles can enable a wide range of services and applications with compelling benefits, ranging from personalized usage-based insurance to road hazard detection and traffic management. With its 14 iconic brands and millions of connected vehicles, Stellantis has unmatched global data scale capable of powering this business forward." Fully leveraging the data from 34 million connected vehicles the Company plans to reach by the end of the decade, Mobilisights has exclusive access and rights to license vehicle and related data from all Stellantis brands to external customers. Such data density will give Mobilisights a greater level of autonomy when it comes to its reliance on other data suppliers to power applications, Stellantis said.