Stellantis is the company behind some of the largest car brands with the most history in both Europe and the United States. It owns Fiat, Peugeot, Citroën, Lancia, Opel and Alfa Romeo and also Jeep, Chrysler and Dodge. However, having long-standing brands has long ceased to be a guarantee for selling cars, especially due to the growing competition from Chinese manufacturers, until very recently, practically unknown.
This rivalry between the Asian giant’s automobile companies – which has led to the imposition of tariffs by Brussels – and the threat of more trade barriers in the United States have led to a crisis for the European giants. For example, in the case of the German Volkswagen, it will result in layoffs and factory closures. And at Stellantis, it has already taken its toll on its CEO, Carlos Tavares, who is leaving the company ahead of schedule.
Tavares (Lisbon, 1958) had been on the tightrope for some time. In fact, the multinational based in the Netherlands already announced a few weeks ago that it had formed a committee to decide who would replace it from 2026. This past weekend, his departure has been precipitated, which leaves the multinational in a quite complicated situation.
The company has limited itself to communicating that Tavares, who has been in office since 2021, submitted his resignation on Sunday and that the board of directors accepted it with immediate effect. “In recent weeks, different points of view have emerged, which have led to this decision,” he justified in a statement. “The success of Stellantis, since its creation, has been based on perfect alignment between the reference shareholders, the board of directors and the CEO,” he adds. A concordance of objectives that had been broken.
Just a few weeks ago, the multinational announced that its results this year are going to be worse than it thought. Above all, because sales in the United States are not doing well and because of the growing competition from Chinese models. A ‘profit warning’ that was accompanied by the dismissal of the financial director, Natalie Knight – who months ago warned that the company’s objectives were “too ambitious” – and the directors of operations in North America and Europe. And now, the CEO’s march is added to those marches.
A new interim executive committee remains at the helm of Stellantis, chaired by John Elkann. The latter is the representative of the heir family of the founder of Fiat, the Agnelli, who also own Ferrari. They are through the Exor company, which exceeds 15% of Stellantis, ahead of the 7% held by the Peugeot family and the French State, which has just over 6% through Bpifrance Participations. Precisely, the Italian Government of Giorgia Meloni has been very critical of Tavares, for his production cuts in Italy, to the point that far-right politics withdrew state funds so that Stellantis, together with Mercedes, could launch a battery factory.
An expert on cuts very critical of bureaucracy
Tavares took charge of Stellantis in 2021, following the merger of PSA, the former parent company of Peugeot and Citroën, with Fiat Chrysler, creating the second largest manufacturer in Europe, only behind Volkswagen. He arrived backed by having avoided PSA’s red numbers and with the aim of replicating that success with Stellantis. A management model based on cost cutting that opened the door to putting an end, in a couple of years, to the group’s brands that are less profitable.
However, reality has overtaken their plans. A commercial strategy marked for months by the decision of the European Union to impose tariffs on imports of Chinese electric cars. Tavares has been very critical of European policy regarding the automobile industry and has predicted the closure of factories due to problems making them profitable compared to their competitors. “Chinese car manufacturers will not go to Germany, France or Italy to build their cars, because there they would have cost disadvantages, starting with energy costs,” he said.
Also, with the bureaucracy. A few days ago, in a interview with the newspaper El Mundostated that Europe would have to follow Morocco’s example. “When you talk to your Government, it is not with several ministers, but with one who then coordinates with the rest. You are not a victim of bureaucracy like in Europe, which is a big mess in terms of regulation. In Morocco they pave the way to focus on what is important: competitive costs that allow affordable, quality cars to be sold with a reasonable margin,” he noted.
But car companies not only have to manage the EU tariff policy, but also in the United States. There, Donald Trump has already announced that he intends to place a 25% commercial surcharge on vehicles manufactured in Mexico. There, Stellantis It has two factoriesin which it assembles Jeep, Ram and Fiat models. Investments that are now awaiting the policy that Trump will finally implement when he arrives at the White House in January.
Pending investment in Spain
Spain is also watching Stellantis’ investments, because it has a battery plant planned in Figueruelas with an investment that could reach 4,000 million euros. After Tavares’s farewell, the president of the Government of Aragon, Jorge Azcón, has assured that this investment does not have to be in danger. “The life of managers within large multinationals, sometimes, is a life with movements,” Azcon pointed out after the resignation of the Portuguese CEO.
There have also been movements in the stock market. This Monday, Stellantis shares sank more than 8% and, so far this year, they have lost close to 47%, leaving the company’s value at around 33 billion euros. . As a comparison, Volkswagen is worth more than 40,000 million and that has also sunk almost 30% so far this year.
While waiting to see who replaces Tavares, Stellantis has to turn around its businesses in the United States and Europe. Between January and September, unit sales in the first market plummeted by 36% and, in the second, by 17%. And while names begin to sound like relief. For example, that of Luca de Meo, current former CEO of Renault, because there are also rumors of a merger between the two automobile companies. A possibility that, just a few weeks ago, Tavares described as “pure speculation.”.
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