Until recently, the Stellantis Group claimed that the current platforms would be followed by the era of the new STLA Small, Medium, Large and Frame. It seems that increasing competition from China has forced the group to change its plans and accelerate its work. The STLA Small for small cars, which was due to debut around 2026, has unexpectedly been replaced by the SCP. The SCP platform was developed for cost-conscious markets – and suddenly it appeared that it could also work in Europe.
The SCP platform, a kind of ‘eCMP Entry’
The use of the new platform is quite a twist. The distant and ephemeral STLA Small becomes even more distant and ephemeral, because the concern already has, after all, a small platform suitable for building low-cost electric cars. The 2024 Citroen e-C3 does not use the existing eCMP 2.0 combined nickel-cobalt-based cells (Li-NCM), but rather the approximately 30 per cent cheaper SCP [Smart Car Platform; a working acronym coined by us]. Cheaper also because it uses lithium-iron-phosphate cells.
From the information Citroen has provided, the SCP platform is already in use in India and South America, so we can presume that it has been developed based on some generation of the eCMP platform. The French manufacturer has stated that it was designed from the very beginning for electric propulsion, although we do know that it is also possible to use internal combustion motors:
We don’t know much about the technical details of the new architecture yet, but a glance at the eCMP platform diagram (below) is enough to see the first major difference, the shape of the battery box. In the eCMP we have two separate batteries under the seats, which are connected by high-voltage cables. In the new SCP, there is now just one rectangular container.
This requires raising the body of the car so that people do not sit with their heads between their knees, but it has considerable advantages: there is one high-voltage wiring harness, one connector, one cooling system. The battery box becomes a structure that increases the rigidity of the car along and across, so the rest of the skeleton can be slimmed down [editor’s guess]:
Diagram of the eCMP platform used in Peugeot (c) Peugeot / Stellantis
It doesn’t stop there. The new SCP platform lends itself to building both cheaper and more spacious electrics. Cheaper will be the Citroen e-C3 (2025), which should have around 30 kWh of battery and 200 units of WLTP range. Cheaper may also be the 2024 Fiat Panda, which, we have a guess, will be the first to gain a powertrain with a smaller battery. At a similar price will probably be the new 2024 Opel Crossland.
A new Citroen e-C3 MPV (“B-SUV”) with 7 seats. Yes!
And what about more spacious models? Well, it is on the SCP platform that a car announced as a “B-SUV” will be built, and which will probably be a minivan bordering the B and C segments. A minivan with, mind you, seven seats in the cabin. It was shown at the very end of the launch, we don’t know why the media ‘overlooked’ it:
