Stellantis: new action plan, new president
- In recent years, under the leadership of its president Carlos Tavares, the Stellantis group has developed a strategy favouring the marketing of vehicles with high added value and high margin, to the detriment of cheaper and more affordable vehicles.
- This strategy has certainly allowed the automotive group to generate substantial profits in the short term. But it is now facing significant difficulties, mainly linked to a decline in volumes and the corresponding overcapacity of its factories:
• The group's sales fell by 12% in 2024 and by a further 10% in the first four months of 2025.
• The group's factories are running at a slow pace and most are suffering from significant overcapacity, as Stellantis‘ management has adopted a policy of not closing any factories.
• In addition, some of the group's brands are experiencing severe underperformance, such as DS (-26.8% compared to the first 5 months of 2024), Abarth (-32.5%), Lancia (-71.1%), Maserati (-31.6%) and Dodge (-46.3%), even threatening their survival in the short term.
- Given these elements, the Stellantis group will most likely be forced to implement a policy that breaks with the previous years objectives, aided in this by the arrival of a new CEO, Antonio Filosa (who has both European and American experience).
- The objective will probably be to adapt the group's industrial tool in relation to actual sales, and if possible regain volume. This could result in factory closures and brand purging, which would imply the end of certain projects already in development. On the other hand, Stellantis could relaunch thermal and hybrid engines, and abandon a fully battery electric range, with the hope of a postponement of the 2035 ban on thermal vehicles.