Stellantis strengthens fuel cell development with new CTO

Jean-Michel Billig began his career in 1988 at Aerospatiale in the helicopter division and then moved to Schlumberger Industries. In 1995, he returned to Aerospatiale as Marketing Director for North and South America. In 1998, Billig joined Airbus where he successively led the procurement of avionics equipment, system engineering, and became CTO at Eurocopter. In 2012, he was appointed EVP Engineering, Quality and IS at Renault. In 2015, he moved to Zodiac Aerospace as CEO of Zodiac Seats and in 2017 became EVP of the Australian Future Submarine Program at the Naval Group. Billig will report to Stellantis' Chief Engineering Officer Harald Wester, and functionally to Ned Curic, Chief Technology Officer. Uwe Hochgeschurtz will take on this new role in addition to his current position as CEO of the Opel brand, which he has held since September 2021. He will lead a dedicated team to strengthen the company's commercial offensive, initially focusing on the European market.

At the end of last year, Stellantis began delivering its zero-emissions efficient solution that combines the advantages of hydrogen fuel cells and E-battery technology in a fuel cell electric vehicle based on the pure electric model. This solution specifically targets light commercial vehicle customers who need long range, quick refueling, and zero emissions – without compromising payload capacity, as the manufacturer argues.