US$100 exit triggers near‑US$1 billion loss and raises fresh questions on EV risk
Stellantis just walked away from Canada’s only operating gigafactory for US$100 — and swallowed almost a US$1bn write‑down to do it.
According to Financial Post, Stellantis NV sold its 49 percent stake in Windsor‑based NextStar Energy to partner LG Energy Solution Ltd. for US$100, after originally investing US$980m in the plant.
At the same time, the automaker is taking about US$26bn in charges as it rewrites its electric‑vehicle strategy, one of the largest write‑downs among global automakers.
LG Energy already held 51 percent of the 4.23‑million‑square‑foot facility and now owns the plant outright.
LG plans to use the site to serve a wider range of automakers, not just Stellantis, and noted that LG already supplies General Motors, Honda and Hyundai, among others.
NextStar chief operating officer Brett Hillock said the change “enables us to open our doors to a wider range of (automaker) OEM customers while continuing to scale operations,” as quoted by Financial Post.
CBC News reported that a Stellantis spokesperson described the sale as a transfer for a nominal fee in exchange for “undisclosed favourable benefits,” and said Stellantis remains a “committed customer” that will keep sourcing batteries from NextStar.
CTV News likewise reported that Stellantis framed the move as a restructuring meant to support the gigafactory’s long‑term success and said it will not affect vehicle production at its Windsor Assembly Plant.
On the public‑money side, Financial Post reported that Ottawa and Ontario together committed about $1bn for construction, split evenly, plus production‑linked operating subsidies that could reach into the tens of billions over time.
CBC News said the federal government has pledged up to $10bn in production subsidies to NextStar, with another $5bn from Ontario.
The plant employs about 1,300 people today and is targeting around 2,500 workers at full capacity.
The facility has already pivoted once.
Financial Post reported that, amid weaker EV sales in Canada and the United States last year, the Windsor plant shifted from a primary focus on EV batteries to utility‑scale batteries for grid storage, while LG signalled it could also use the site to serve a broader customer base, including non‑auto applications.
For markets, the Windsor sale is part of a wider reset.
Bloomberg reported that Stellantis is taking more than €22bn (about US$26bn) in charges, mainly tied to cancelling EVs and compensating suppliers as it reverses course on its EV push.
CNBC said Stellantis shares fell as much as 27 percent in Europe and 23 percent in New York after it disclosed the charges, suspended its 2026 dividend and flagged a net loss for 2025.
Stellantis chief executive Antonio Filosa said the charges “largely reflect the cost of over-estimating the pace of the energy transition,” according to CNN, and argued that the shift to EVs should be “governed by demand rather than command.”
The different approaches behind the deal also showed up in how capital behaves.
Bentley Allan of the Transition Accelerator told Financial Post that in an EV, the battery can represent up to 40 percent of total vehicle cost and argued that Stellantis’s write‑off shows it is more sensitive to short‑term investor pressure than LG.
He linked that to Korea’s longer investment horizons, saying these short‑term decisions are driven by capital markets rather than the West’s long‑term economic interests.
