Dec 3 (Reuters) – Michelin, Forvia and Stellantis reached an agreement over the restructuring and refinancing of hydrogen fuel cell firm Symbio, the jointly owned company said on Wednesday.
The future of the joint venture has been uncertain since carmaker Stellantis, which accounted for 80% of Symbio’s business volume, discontinued its hydrogen fuel cell technology programme in July.
“The challenge for Symbio is to adapt its strategy and organisation to its new scope of activity,” said the company, in which the three shareholders own 33% each.
In response to the smaller scope of operations, Symbio said it would reduce its headcount to 175 people. That compares to 650 employees before Stellantis’ announcement, its website showed.
“The goal is to reach a production capacity of 10,000 systems per year by 2028-2030 at the SymphonHy site in Saint-Fons,” it said. The French site represents one of Symbio’s key strengths as of today, it added.
(Reporting by Mathias de Rozario in Gdansk, editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak)
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