Carlos Tavares, the executive in charge of mega global automotive parent company Stellantis, was clearly not going to stay in his job for long, though it was recently announced that he’d retire in 2026 at the end of his contract. Friends, he didn’t even make it out of 2024.
None of this is a surprise. Tavares, pictured above, managed to accomplish record profits during the pandemic at the expense of almost any sort of obvious plan for the future. His management style put French managers on top of Italian and American subordinates. He frequently feuded with the Italian government. Dealers, workers, suppliers, and customers were all mad at him.
Perhaps most telling of all, Tavares couldn’t keep making big margins in North America, which is a necessity for Stellantis as the company needs North American profits to offset losses in Europe and other markets. Stellantis announced today that Tavares had resigned. Here’s the statement:
Stellantis N.V. (“Stellantis” or “the Company”) announces that the Company’s Board of Directors, under the Chairmanship of John Elkann, accepted Carlos Tavares’ resignation today from his role as Chief Executive Officer with immediate effect.
The process to appoint the new permanent Chief Executive Officer is well under way, managed by a Special Committee of the Board, and will be concluded within the first half of 2025. Until then, a new Interim Executive Committee, chaired by John Elkann, will be established.
Stellantis confirms the guidance it presented to the financial community on October 31, 2024, in respect of its full year 2024 results.
Stellantis’ Senior Independent Director, Henri de Castries, commented: “Stellantis’ success since its creation has been rooted in a perfect alignment between the reference shareholders, the Board and the CEO. However, in recent weeks different views have emerged which have resulted in the Board and the CEO coming to today’s decision.”
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.”
This is immediate, so he’s out.
The big question is: What were those “different views” referenced here? At least one view is probably that Tavares wanted to stay with the company and not many other people seemed to share that view. Dealers called the brands helmed by Tavares a disaster, customers were upset with the company’s direction, and even Tavares himself called his view of North America “arrogant.”
It sort of sounds like the classic “If you do X I’ll resign” bluff might have occurred and the Board called his bluff, but that’s just a wild guess.
There are a lot of words that need to be written by me, specifically, but I’m going to give Tavares and others a chance to chime in before picking this up in TMD tomorrow.
Image: The Wedding Singer
Frieburger / Dulcich for Stellantis Co-CEOs. I hear they’re both recently available.
Board’s View: “We would like to make money selling cars”
Carlos’ View: “I am not really an expert at that…”