Monday 2nd December 2024

Stellantis CEO abruptly resigns

World's fourth-largest carmaker will be run by committee until new boss is found

---

Less than a week after Vauxhall announced plans to close its Luton factory, the Chief Executive Officer of Stellantis - the multinational company that incorporates 14 automotive brands - has quit his post. In an official statement released on Sunday, the firm’s board of directors confirmed that Carlos Tavares’ resignation had been accepted with immediate effect. Until a new CEO can be found, a new Interim Executive Committee, chaired by John Elkann, will be established to run the global manufacturer created by the merger Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and the PSA Group in 2021. 

The ongoing trials and tribulations of Vauxhall are the tip of a problematic iceberg: Stellantis has lost around 40 per cent of its value this year, and issued a profit warning on its 2024 results two months ago. In its wake, a reshuffle of the firm’s senior management was conducted, but Tavares had initially been expected to remain in his role until his scheduled retirement in early 2026. “However, in recent weeks different views have emerged which have resulted in the Board and the CEO coming to today’s decision,” commented Stellantis’ Senior Independent Director, Henri de Castries. 

Sales in the US - typically the firm’s chief profit generator - slumped by 17 per cent in the third quarter of this year, and Tavares had recently faced dealers disgruntled by oversupply and a unionised workforce threatening a nationwide walkout. In Europe, he was seen increasingly as a divisive figure, especially when calling for significant reductions in production. The Unite union called Stellantis’ decision to close Vauxhall’s van-making factory a "complete slap in the face" for its members working in Luton. 

Chairman John Elkann said: “Our thanks go to Carlos for his years of dedicated service and the role he has played in the creation of Stellantis, in addition to the previous turnarounds of PSA and Opel, setting us on the path to becoming a global leader in our industry. I look forward to working with our new Interim Executive Committee, supported by all our Stellantis colleagues, as we complete the process of appointing our new CEO. Together we will ensure the continued deployment of the Company’s strategy in the long-term interests of Stellantis and all of its stakeholders.”

---

• Vauxhall Cavalier time capsule for sale
• Ford restructures in Europe, 800 UK jobs to go

[Fetchez la vache]

So, the dealers say they cant sell them, and the unions say they don't want to cut supply.
Interesting times ahead then.

[GTEYE]

Shrinking volumes, far too many brands. The ship is taking on water, and may well be starting to go down.

[yme402]

Lumping together the arse-end of failing automotive brands into one happy family was never going to end well. The reality is that nearly all European manufacturers are now pricing themselves out of the game.

[charltjr]

British Leyland for the 2020s, what a great idea.

VW made it work because their brands are well differentiated (if you ignore SEAT, anyway). Stellantis is just a mess.

[Numeric]

There seems to be a pattern to these people, clearly intelligent and well educated but after the cost cutting and riding an economic wave especially in the US market where an expansion of money supply fueled quite ludicrous sub prime vehicle loans over insane lengths (that bag of horrors is yet to really deliver its pile of poo for many manufacturers) he has seemingly doubled down on the fact that he is infallible. These people seem to stalk the upper floors of many corporates and either are of the American GE and Welch style or are of the European how can you doubt me cos I'm so clever style.

All I know is thousands will suffer hardship as their jobs evaporate, I believe this gentleman's last pay packet was about $30million but I could be wrong so stand to be corrected.

Edited by Numeric on Monday 2nd December 08:22

[Firebobby]

It's time manufacturers woke up to the fact their products are simply too expensive! Give us a basic car, central locking, electric front windows, a simple audio system. 15" steel wheels with plastic trims, and charge £15k-£20k and people will eat them up! IMHO of course.

[Wills2]

Firebobby said:

It's time manufacturers woke up to the fact their products are simply too expensive! Give us a basic car, central locking, electric front windows, a simple audio system. 15" steel wheels with plastic trims, and charge £15k-£20k and people will eat them up! IMHO of course.

Here you go.

https://www.dacia.co.uk/vehicles/sandero/configura...

[Nelly Nel Nielson]

Firebobby said:

It's time manufacturers woke up to the fact their products are simply too expensive! Give us a basic car, central locking, electric front windows, a simple audio system. 15" steel wheels with plastic trims, and charge £15k-£20k and people will eat them up! IMHO of course.

You mean like Dacia, who seem to go from strength to strength selling decent cars at reasonable prices.

It might be a bit dull though when everyone else has gone out of business and we can only buy Dacias or Chinese electric SUVs.

[RudeDog]

Its not a surprise that the industry behemoths are suffering. They've all been caught napping as the new entrants appeared with technology that moved the game forward and without the burden of a legacy cost structure or outdated infrastructure/assets.

e.g. European car manufacturers have been selling products in China for a quarter of the price they retail the same things in Europe, just to maintain market share. Now Chinese companies are selling their products here, its only going one way.

Nokia, Blockbuster, Kodak, Blackberry... I mean its a reputable club to join.

[Triumph Man]

Firebobby said:

It's time manufacturers woke up to the fact their products are simply too expensive! Give us a basic car, central locking, electric front windows, a simple audio system. 15" steel wheels with plastic trims, and charge £15k-£20k and people will eat them up! IMHO of course.

I'd quite like a fairly basic large saloon - small wheels, 6 cylinder engine, electric windows, air con. Done. Similar to the old Australian approach.

I've just described my 30 year old BMW, but a new version of this would be ideal! Of course it would never, ever, get manufactured

[Abarth131]

Firebobby said:

It's time manufacturers woke up to the fact their products are simply too expensive! Give us a basic car, central locking, electric front windows, a simple audio system. 15" steel wheels with plastic trims, and charge £15k-£20k and people will eat them up! IMHO of course.

Good plan

[JD]

DA your thread has arrived.

Pretty sure you even predicted exactly this?

[Wills2]

RudeDog said:

Its not a surprise that the industry behemoths are suffering. They've all been caught napping as the new entrants appeared with technology that moved the game forward and without the burden of a legacy cost structure or outdated infrastructure/assets.

e.g. European car manufacturers have been selling products in China for a quarter of the price they retail the same things in Europe, just to maintain market share. Now Chinese companies are selling their products here, its only going one way.

Nokia, Blockbuster, Kodak, Blackberry... I mean its a reputable club to join.

Businesses rise and fall there is nothing new in that.

[sidesauce]

Nelly Nel Nielson said:

Firebobby said:

It's time manufacturers woke up to the fact their products are simply too expensive! Give us a basic car, central locking, electric front windows, a simple audio system. 15" steel wheels with plastic trims, and charge £15k-£20k and people will eat them up! IMHO of course.

You mean like Dacia, who seem to go from strength to strength selling decent cars at reasonable prices.

It might be a bit dull though when everyone else has gone out of business and we can only buy Dacias or Chinese electric SUVs.

You mean Dacia, the same company who have steadily put their prices up over the past 5 years. In 2017, the Sandero 0.9 TCe Ambiance was £6788, today the cheapest version of the Sandero is £13,795; an increase of over 103%.

This argument that any specific manufacturer is too expensive is silly when every single manufacturer has had to put their prices up, particularly since COVID, without exception.

Edited by sidesauce on Monday 2nd December 09:10

[Jon_S_Rally]

A shame really. I have a current Peugeot 208 and it's quite a nice car. Comfortable, well-equipped and seems well built. I do struggle a bit with the mix of brands within Stellantis though. I'm not sure they offer enough difference between one another and, while the 208 is ok, there is some questionable stuff in there.

As for this chap, I was involved with Ford when he was there. Never met him in person, but he was overseeing some of the stuff I was involved in. He always seemed to be one of those management characters that was never actually around, but was just a name that people were scared of.

[Mark-C]

sidesauce said:

Nelly Nel Nielson said:

Firebobby said:

It's time manufacturers woke up to the fact their products are simply too expensive! Give us a basic car, central locking, electric front windows, a simple audio system. 15" steel wheels with plastic trims, and charge £15k-£20k and people will eat them up! IMHO of course.

You mean like Dacia, who seem to go from strength to strength selling decent cars at reasonable prices.

It might be a bit dull though when everyone else has gone out of business and we can only buy Dacias or Chinese electric SUVs.

You mean Dacia, the same company who have steadily put their prices up over the past 5 years. In 2018 the Sandero price went up £1000 then in 2020 it went up another £1850.

This argument that any specific manufacturer is too expensive is silly when every single manufacturer has had to put their prices up particularly since COVID and without exception.

Edited by sidesauce on Monday 2nd December 08:59

The point is that lots of manufacturers are too expensive ... Dacia are the least expensive for a decent enough car.

Inflation will always be happening (on average over time)

[BigChiefmuffinAgain]

It was always a slightly strange plan to lump a bunch of second rate brands together in the hope that some sort of economies of scale would tied them thru. It may have actually worked if the cars themselves had been good but so much of the Vauxhall/Fiat/Alfa/Maserati recent offerings have been really poorly developed and received by the market. They are also off the pace in EVs.

You can see why it was decided that he had to go. Hard to see what to do next - there's going to be a flood of cars coming over from China shortly which is going to hit them hardest.

[Gecko1978]

It is a multi faceted problem. European car makers are forced to make new cars of a spec that's very expensive, China had makers who have only ever made EVs, consumers don't seem to like what's on offer in the form of EVs, tax and penalties on ICE is growing but retail consumers don't want EVs as much.

So how can they make an affordable car that people want an still meet the new rules seems an impossible task. An so jobs are lost, I am not sure destroying livelihoods is great for election hopes. Trump is going to drill for oil in the US an in Europe we are going EV only. One side will be proved right and the other wrong

[giveitfish]

Their Italian brands especially are just a dead weight. Maserati/Alfa/Fiat have been failing companies for decades now, they really are the modern equivalent of 80's Jaguar/Rover/Austin. I wish them well but there comes a point where you have to let go.

[Dynion Araf Uchaf]

it is interesting to note the Alex Smith the Group MD of VW UK resigned this week. I suspect he may end up at CEO of Stellantis. He has the ego to want to do it, and would be more than happy with the £29.5m pay rise.