ROME, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- Italian-American carmaker Fiat Chrysler is planning a quick transition to the electric car market it is just entering and announced on Wednesday the goal of having electric vehicles make up at least 60 percent of its sales by the end of next year.
The news comes three weeks after Fiat Chrysler announced the acquisition of Engie Electric Power Systems, a micro-grid and energy storage company that will help in the development of electric vehicles as well as other low-environmental-impact services.
Fiat Chrysler is also in the midst of a merger with French rival Peugeot, which will create a new entity, Stellantis, once the merger terms are finalized next year. Based on current data, Stellantis will be the world's fourth-leading automaker measured as the number of vehicles produced. Even after the merger, Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot will continue selling cars under their traditional brand names.
In 2018, Fiat Chrysler vowed to spend at least 9 billion euros (10.6 billion U.S. dollars) on the development of electrified vehicles by 2022.
A year ago, Roberto Di Stefano, Fiat Chrysler's head of network development and e-mobility, told Xinhua the company was planning to use a range of electric and hybrid cars to gain a foothold in the Chinese market.
"Everyone knows that the real market for electric mobility will be China and then the rest of the world will follow," Di Stefano said.
Shares of Fiat Chrysler were unchanged in trading Wednesday, though they have steadily climbed over the last ten weeks, adding nearly 33 percent to their value since Sept. 21, as the finalization of the merger approached.
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