(Bloomberg) -- Stellantis NV’s joint venture with Guangzhou Automobile Group has decided to file for bankruptcy, taking the European automaker a step closer to exiting manufacturing in China. 

Both companies approved a resolution for the GAC Fiat Chrysler Automobiles venture to file for bankruptcy in a loss-making context, Stellantis said in a statement Monday. The automaker fully wrote down the value of its stake in the venture after ending production of Jeeps in China. The company will continue providing services to existing and future Jeep customers in China, it said. 

Stellantis Chief Executive Officer Carlos Tavares earlier this month hinted he may also stop production of Peugeot and Citroen cars in China, saying the company might implement an “asset-light” strategy for those brands -- repeating a phrase he used to describe his decision to pull out from the Jeep plant. 

Read more: Stellantis’s China Partner Blindsided by Possible Carmaking Exit

In a further step back from the world’s biggest auto market, Stellantis’s Opel brand last month said it’s pausing a planned expansion in China. 

Stellantis has been mulling the potential exit as more established foreign auto brands struggle to maintain their position in China, raising questions about their long-term future in the country. The market is also swiftly pivoting electric, an area that some multinational carmakers have been slower to move into. Domestic automakers accounted for almost 80% of EV sales through the first seven months of 2022, according to data compiled by the China Passenger Car Association.

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