What's the real story behind Stellantis's 'new' £52bn plan to build 25 cars by 2030?

The Stellantis mega-corp has announced it will launch 25 all-new or new replacement cars in Europe by 2030, of which 12 are small and 11 mid-size. That's across Peugeot, Citroen, Alfa, Vauxhall-Opel, Fiat, Jeep, DS and Lancia. A blitz of similar magnitude is promised for North America.

All of this was part of a huge presentation of future direction by the company yesterday. It says it will spend €60 billion (£52bn) on new platforms and cars over the years from now to 2030.

But many questions remain about how new the plan actually is. We'll explore that after a quick round-up of the new cars formerly announced.

Citroen confirmed a 'new 2CV'. With memories of the original still vivid for many, and Citroen's recent history of unrealised 'cheap' concept cars, a 2CV is something people have been crying out for. Let's hope the reality lives up to that.

It will be one of a posse of electric 'E-Cars' created to stave off competition from cheap Chinese EVs. There will also be a related car called Fiat Panda, distinct from the existing Grande Panda.

Prices for the E-Cars will begin in the EU for less than €15,000 (£13,000). The idea is to hit "price parity" with the cheapest petrol cars. We don't know if they'll sell in the UK because they're being built to meet a new EU initiative. Besides, the cost to convert such cheap cars to RHD might rule it out.

Vauxhall will replace the Corsa with an electric car related to that E-208, and a petrol version that's a full go-over of the existing car.

Peugeot will use the new EV platform under the new E-208, with its steer-by-wire system. They didn't say what will happen with the petrol 208 but we understand it'll look the same as the new E-208. At the top of the range will be a big car from the recently announced Dongfeng joint venture, made in France. More on that venture below.

Fiat showed concept images of a new family car called the Grizzly. It will come in electric and mild-hybrid petrol, and a choice of tail-end design. One is a boxy SUV shape, the other a more unusual fastback. It's bigger than the Grande Panda, and is related mechanically to that and the Vauxhall Frontera.

Maserati will make two new big cars, but gave no details other than 'wait and see'. Sadly Maserati has consistently failed for decades to fully deliver on growth plans, so you'll excuse us if we curb our enthusiasm until a happy reality appears.

American enthusiasts were thrown some red meat with the promise of a boost to the SRT performance brand. Expect new tyre-shredding versions of many of the corp's cars, SUVs and pickups. First off the ranks is the RAM Rumble Bee SRT steroided pickup.

Dodge SRT will launch a new sports coupe called the Copperhead. That was originally the name of a sports roadster coupe concept back in 1997. The real one will be a Charger-derived low-slung coupe.

But to TopGear.com much of the Stellantis plan raises many questions. Perhaps most significant, it includes a lot of hoopla about a new global platform called STLA One. This, we are told, will serve all sizes of car from supermini to full-size, and be able to accommodate battery, petrol and PHEV drive.

Yet four years ago the company said it was launching three platforms to cover off those vehicles: STLA Small, STLA Medium and STLA Large. The latter two are in production already. On Medium we have the Peugeot 3008, Vauxhall Grandland, Citroen C5 Aircross, DS No8 and Jeep Compass. On Large it's the Dodge Charger and Jeep Recon. Alfa's new Giulia and Stelvio are to use Large, but they're three years late while being converted from EV-only to having a petrol option.

Meanwhile STLA Small, for the next 208 and Corsa, hasn't seen the light of day at all.

So, is this so-called STLA One just a re-naming of the Small/Medium/Large system? Or is the company binning S, M and L before they've even hit their stride? If so, how many billions did that waste?

Also announced yesterday were new electronics. One is called STLA Brain for all underlying vehicle systems (think BMW's Heart of Joy) and the other STLA Cockpit for the bits you interact with. Only… very similar things with the same names were announced four years ago. It's hard to see what's changed except a lot of foot-dragging.

STLA Brain is designed to allow STLA Autodrive, the name for what it terms "door to door autonomy" in two years from now. That of course has been a two-year mirage for much of the car industry ever since 2015. We're still not there. You wonder why Stellantis doesn't save its money and walk away from that.

The new plan also makes it clear some ambitions have have been scaled back. DS is now talked of as a part of Citroen, rather than a separate premium entity. Same with Lancia being rolled back into Fiat.

Meanwhile, much of the company's hoped-for expansion is through partnerships.

Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa announced the company is talking to Jaguar Land Rover about working together. "In North America we can develop products and technologies, as there is synergy in product conception with JLR."

He added: "In the new trade conditions our capacity is attractive to others." Likely translation: the two will work together on 4x4s, because that's what they both do, and Land Rover can avoid tariffs if it build its cars in Stellantis's factories over there, which aren't all that busy at the moment. But talks are at an early stage and detail is scant.

Peugeot-Citroen has been building cars in China with Chinese state-owned Dongfeng ever since 1992, and it's now announced Dongfeng will build its upmarket Voyah brand SUVs in a Citroen factory in Rennes, western France.

In a similar spirit, Leapmotor, an entity already tied to Stellantis, will build a car at the Opel factory in Zaragoza, Spain, and Opel Vauxhall will get a related (though not simply badge-engineered) compact SUV built on the same line.

Building Chinese-brand cars in France and Spain is a pretty big step for the European car biz. Stellantis hopes it can learn from them and extract useful money from using its plants in this way. It just has to hope this isn't another early step in a massive and injurious Chinese incursion.