Stellantis’ supply chain playbook for Asia Pacific: From cost centre to strategic growth engine
At the first Automotive Logistics & Supply Chain ASEAN conference in Singapore, Stellantis’ chief operating officer for India and Asia Pacific, Ashwani Muppasani, outlined how the carmaker is redesigning its regional logistics and sourcing networks to drive profitability, localisation and agility across 23 markets.
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Stellantis is reframing its supply chain strategy in Asia Pacific, shifting from an import-heavy, cost-driven model to one centred on localised production, data-driven logistics and strategic supplier collaboration. For Ashwani Muppasani, the region’s COO, supply chain is no longer a back-office cost function, it is an enabler of growth and competitiveness.
Speaking at the Automotive Logistics & Supply Chain ASEAN conference, Muppasani detailed how the company is consolidating operations, harnessing digital tools and building regional partnerships to turn India and Southeast Asia into a core pillar of Stellantis’ global network.
Building a strategic hub across a diverse region
Muppasani oversees a patchwork of markets with different regulations, customer expectations and logistics challenges including India, South-East Asia, Japan, Korea, Australia and New Zealand. The region today includes four manufacturing plants, five national sales companies and 18 distributors, operating across 23 markets.
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Rather than chasing volume, Stellantis is positioning itself as a niche, profitability-focused player. “We’re not the biggest player in the region, but we aim to be the most efficient and most profitable,” Muppasani said.
Growth expectations, however, are strong. India is set to become the world’s third-largest automotive market, while ASEAN production is forecasted to rise from 3.5 million to 4.6 million units by 2030. Stellantis is targeting both regions as manufacturing and export hubs, reducing its dependence on imported vehicles and parts.
Localisation to reduce cost, risk and lead time
Today around 80% of Stellantis vehicles sold in the region are imported from other production hubs. Muppasani admitted that this model adds roughly €3,500–€4,000 ($4,050-$4,630) per vehicle in logistics, customs and currency-related costs. “We can optimise ports, shipping routes and distribution all we want, but the fundamental challenge remains - imported vehicles carry costs we can’t control,” he said.
The company’s clear objective is to invert that ratio, with the majority of vehicles built and sold within the region. To achieve it, Stellantis is planning to design, engineer, develop and launch locally in India and ASEAN, backed by stronger regional supply bases.
The importance of localisation is confirmed in Indian market. Stellantis has emphasised that in India, “the name of the game… is localisation”. For example, the third model from Citroën in India is being developed with over 90% local content.
Also, localisation is not only about manufacturing but also about controlling order-to-delivery (OTD) times, which the OEM aims to cut to under 40 days. Predictive analytics, improved forecast discipline and AI-based demand modelling are crucial to this transformation.
Consolidation: four hubs replacing fragmented flows
A foundation of Stellantis’ logistics overhaul is the creation of regional consolidation centres. Instead of each supplier managing its own export flows and warehousing, Stellantis now coordinates materials through four key consolidation hubs - in Pune and Chennai (India), Thailand and South Korea.
Suppliers deliver parts to these hubs, where Stellantis’ logistics partners handle packaging, bundling and shipping. Container cube utilisation now averages 85–90%, cutting freight costs and emissions while reducing duplicated warehouse expenses.
The network is already moving around 233,000m³ of material per year (≈ 3,700 containers), with volumes projected to exceed 9,000 containers by 2030, driven by export growth to Stellantis plants in the US, Mexico, Europe and South America.
“It’s not just about logistics optimisation,” Muppasani said. “By taking responsibility for consolidation, we gain transparency, cost control and leverage across the global network.”
Common systems and shared visibility
Previously, each national operation in Asia Pacific managed its own vehicle processing centres (VPCs) and logistics contractors, leading to fragmented oversight and inconsistent standards. Average pre-delivery costs reached €1,000 ($1,150) per vehicle, including storage and rework.
Today, a single regional manager oversees all VPCs under a shared IT platform. The system tracks every unit’s status, repair reason and processing time, ensuring faster throughput and lower handling costs.
The company is also testing hub-and-spoke distribution models to reduce delivery distances and align inventory with local demand patterns like, colour and trim preferences in specific metro areas.
AI and digital tools driving decision-making and packaging
Stellantis is deploying AI-based predictive models to forecast production, manage inventory and anticipate parts obsolescence. “Forecast accuracy has to be disciplined,” Muppasani noted. “We allow only ±10% deviation, and accountability starts with sales, sell what you have and produce what you sell.”
AI is also being applied to aftermarket logistics, improving transparency on excess and obsolete (E&O) stock and enabling real-time decisions about part returns, redeployment or recycling. The regional supply chain team is also pioneering Stellantis’ global packaging centre of excellence, developing reusable, returnable packaging designs and data standards for worldwide operations.
Muppasani confirmed that all manufacturing packaging within the region is now returnable, and Stellantis will extend this principle to export shipments of parts and engines. By eliminating single-use crates and dunnage, the company reduces waste and transport costs while supporting group-wide sustainability goals.
This circular packaging model is supported by the regional packaging centre of excellence, based in India and Thailand, which sets global standards and trains teams across Stellantis’ other divisions.
Turning partnerships into innovation engines
Beyond internal efficiencies, Muppasani called for a new approach to supplier and logistics-provider relationships. “A partner shouldn’t just do what we ask and hand back a box,” he said. “The real value comes when partners innovate, when they say, ‘Here’s a better way that saves you money.’”
This model is evident in Stellantis’ recent appointments: For the regional parts hub in Malaysia, Stellantis selected DHL Supply Chain as the logistics partner to manage the 18,000m² regional warehouse covering 20 countries, a Free-Trade-Zone location aimed at improving parts availability and lead-time across the region.
He emphasised the importance of transparency and long-term strategic partnerships over transactional, short-term contracts. “There will be good years and bad years. Strategic partners who know our business will help us ride both,” he added.
ASEAN and India’s rising role in the Stellantis network
The strength of the regional supplier base, especially in Thailand, where Japanese OEMs have cultivated world-class quality and cost standards reinforces Stellantis’ localisation goals. “The perception that this region can’t deliver globally competitive components is outdated,” Muppasani said. “We now have everything needed, from design to execution, within the region, and in much shorter lead times.”
India, meanwhile, is emerging as both a sourcing powerhouse and a software and engineering hub for Stellantis’ global operations, supplying components and digital capabilities to markets worldwide. Stellantis’ India & Asia Pacific operation is headquartered in Kuala Lumpur with major plants in India, and India is being positioned for EV export. As a start, 500 units of the ë-C3 have been exported to Indonesia.
Moreover, the Malaysia regional parts hub (scheduled Q1 2025) is aligned with the “Built in ASEAN for ASEAN” roadmap, boosting the idea that ASEAN is now a strategic production and export zone.
Perhaps the most striking theme from Muppasani’s address was cultural. He urged logistics and supply-chain professionals to think like entrepreneurs and to understand how every hour of detention or every unused container directly affects margins. “It’s a bucket with holes,” he said. “Everyone focuses on selling more cars, but every euro lost in supply chain is a euro out of your profit.”
That financial lens, he believes, is what will elevate supply-chain management from a reactive support function to a strategic value driver for the business.
