- Stellantis has paid $190.6 million in fines for 2019–2020 fuel economy violations.
- Total fines since 2018 now exceed $773 million due to inefficient vehicle lineups.
- New Trump-era rule shields automakers from steep fines starting with 2022MY vehicles.
With its North American lineup long centered on large SUVs, pickup trucks, and until recently muscle cars as well, Stellantis has unsurprisingly struggled to meet fuel economy standards, racking up significant fines in the process.
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While thirsty V8s aren’t the only engines behind the problem, they’ve become the most visible symbol of the company’s strategy. What may come as more of a surprise is just how much Stellantis has paid, effectively treating the penalties as the price of keeping its most popular, powerful, and gas-hungry models on the road.
In March of this year, Stellantis shelled out $78.3 million in fines, followed by another $112.3 million in June, bringing its total for 2024 alone to $190.6 million. These penalties stem from missing fuel efficiency targets for the 2019 and 2020 model years.
Read: V6s Be Damned, Durango Goes Hemi-Only For 2026
According to Reuters, Stellantis has paid a staggering $773.5 million in fuel efficiency fines since 2018. Evidently, the carmaker’s commitment to large-capacity engines like V8s, largely at the insistence of its enthusiastic owners, is having a significant impact on the automaker’s bottom line.
What Happens Next?
Fortunately for Stellantis, things should get a whole lot easier for it under the Trump administration. The 45th and 47th President of the US has already established a new law to ensure car companies are not fined for missing fuel economy standards, starting with the 2022 model year. It is in part thanks to this change that the company has been able to double down on its commitment to the famous Hemi V8, now offering it as standard in all Dodge Durango models.
The Trump administration declared in June that the prior administration had exceeded its authority in assuming a high uptake of electric vehicles when calculating penalty rates. The NHTSA’s former fuel economy proposal was expected to cost the industry up to $14 billion in fines through 2032, including as much as $3 billion for Stellantis, $6.5 billion for GM, and $1 billion for Ford.
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