Stellantis will not extend CEO Tavares’ contract
Tavares is not just anyone at Stellantis but one of the defining figures of the still-young car company. As head and restructurer of PSA, Tavares was instrumental in driving the merger with FiatChrysler to form Stellantis and has since led the new company – quite successfully, at least on paper. Especially when you consider that both the French PSA Group with Peugeot, Citroen, DS and later Opel, and Fiat were unprofitable for a long time. Under Tavares’ leadership, the business was successful for a long time, and Stellantis offers an extensive range of electric cars.
However, there were increasing conflicts behind the scenes. Despite record profits in 2023, the figures for the current year looked significantly worse, and profits fell by 48 per cent in the first half of the year. There were also disputes with dealers, particularly in the North American market. It even went so far that North American dealers complained in a letter about the strategy developed by the Group’s management.
Due to his past performance, Tavares was long considered untouchable internally. Whether the decision not to extend his contract was made by him or by the company is not clear. It only states that “the formal process to identify a successor to Carlos Tavares, when he retires at the conclusion of his CEO term in early 2026 is already under way. This is being led by a Special Committee of the Board Chaired by John Elkann and will complete its work by the fourth quarter of 2025.”
Head of Europe Uwe Hochgeschurtz leaves
Tavares’s departure is probably the final act in a reorganisation of the management structure that Tavares himself initiated. As with Volvo and Audi, which announced new structures and personnel changes this week, Stellantis aims to strengthen its focus on its most important business priorities and tackle the global challenges facing the industry head-on.
It resulted in several senior management changes: Doug Ostermann has been appointed Chief Financial Officer, succeeding Natalie Knight, who will leave Stellantis. Ostermann was previously the Chief Operating Officer of Stellantis China. His former role will be filled by Gregoire Olivier, who will also remain Chief Liaison Officer for Leapmotor – and thus become a powerful Stellantis manager for China.
In North America, Jeep CEO Antonio Filosa will also be appointed Chief Operating Officer for North America, succeeding Carlos Zarlenga, whose new position will be announced at a later date.
The biggest change in Europe: Jean-Philippe Imparato will step down as CEO of Alfa Romeo, keep his role as CEO of the commercial vehicle division Stellantis Pro One, and will also be appointed Chief Operating Officer of the Enlarged Europe region. The previous Head of Europe, Uwe Hochgeschurtz, is leaving the company – with an unknown destination. Santo Ficili is appointed CEO of Maserati and Alfa Romeo and is a member of the Top Executive Team.
And Maxime Picat, head of Stellantis Purchasing, has to give up some power. The supply chain organisation will be removed from the purchasing department and added to Arnaud Deboeuf’s production department in future. Maxime Picat will thus “dedicate even greater focus and expertise to the performance improvements to be achieved with our supplier partners,” Stellantis states in its press release.
“During this Darwinian period for the automotive industry, our duty and ethical responsibility is to adapt and prepare ourselves for the future, better and faster than our competitors to deliver clean, safe and affordable mobility,” says Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares. “The newly appointed leadership team members will make their valuable contributions to our overall team’s determination to tackle the challenges ahead, reinforcing and accelerating our transformation to become the preferred mobility tech company. “
1 Comment