Resign in May and go away — that was the reality for Carlos Tavares, the extremely highly paid automotive executive who served as CEO of vehicle manufacturer Stellantis from 2021 until June this year. With the announcement in May of a change in CEO and the decision to appoint Antonio Filosa to the top job, Stellantis finally took a major step towards changing the trajectory of the business.
It wasn’t a moment too soon, with a 9% drop in shipments (measured as number of units) in the first quarter and a 14% decline in revenue (in euros). Even before all the tariff uncertainty in the industry and the wave of competition from China, Stellantis was a weak player. When things get tough, the weak die first.
Stellantis is trying to be a lot of things to a lot of people, which isn’t a surprise for a group that is just a cobbled-together collection of automotive brands that struggle to have much impact outside their home markets. The French brands are huge in France and there are many Fiats in Italy, but they aren’t anywhere near the top of the bestseller list in most other places. The US market is the same, with Dodge having a strong following in that market but little joy elsewhere.
The exception is Latin America, where Stellantis has the market-leading position. Stellantis is built around having excellent regional brands, but its biggest success story is in a market where there are no regional brands. Go figure.
As CFO Doug Ostermann pointed out on a call at the Bernstein 41st Annual Strategic Decisions Conference 2025, incoming CEO Filosa has been running the Latin America business at Stellantis. This is a good sign, as he’s tasted a rare delicacy at Stellantis: success. Having also worked in Europe and North America, Filosa brings global context and experience to a role that demands a worldly CEO.
Here are more promising signs: in Latin America, Filosa was responsible for taking Fiat to a market-leading position, so he knows how to win market share. He also put in place a strong manufacturing hub in Brazil, leading to the launch of Jeep in that country and creating a market that became Jeep’s best story outside the US. And finally, he joined Fiat way back in 1999 where he was a plant manager and then worked in procurement, so he’s a hands-on executive with operational experience.
That’s just as well, because he’s walking into a lumbering corporate giant with a weak product offering in many segments and an environment that is heavy on consultants and light on entrepreneurs. Case in point: Stellantis has hired McKinsey to advise it on strategies for Maserati and Alfa Romeo in the context of tariffs in the US. Investors should feel nervous when consultants are being used to work on matters that are core to the group. How is it possible that Stellantis doesn’t have internal analysts who can do that work?
Fortunately, underneath all these layers of fat, there’s still some muscle to be found. The brands don’t have universal appeal (think of Volkswagen), but they do enjoy cult-like followings. The Stellantis platform strategy is focused on allowing the brands to share technology and powertrains, while adding their sprinkles to the final product to make it feel like a Peugeot, Alfa Romeo or Jeep. This annoys purists, but purists can’t keep a group such as Stellantis alive.
The platform model also delivers flexibility around powertrains. In Europe, the focus is on battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and they need to increase the sales mix into the high teens to be on top of European regulations. Elsewhere, vehicles with internal combustion engines still enjoy the strongest market share, with hybrid products (championed by Toyota) achieving excellent customer adoption rates. The hybrid opportunity, using a blend of internal combustion and electric power, is an area of focus at Stellantis. The platforms are flexible enough to allow for different powertrains in different regions, something Stellantis needs to optimise.
Fortunately for Stellantis, underneath all the layers of fat, there’s still some muscle to be found
The platforms require constant research & development, of course. On the Bernstein call, Ostermann discussed how large BEVs struggle for profitability because they require huge batteries to be viable, unlike small BEVs which make more economic sense. Large BEVs (destined for the US) need technology that charges the batteries while driving, allowing for smaller batteries. Another insight was that Stellantis wants to control the software in its vehicles instead of using third parties, as the outsourced model is inflexible and makes product changes much slower.
For Filosa, the challenge will be to plug the right gaps in the offering, with Stellantis needing to focus on where it can win. Hopefully it can channel some of that Latin American success into the rest of the business, supported by a balance sheet that is in decent shape.
Stellantis is languishing at a price/sales multiple of 0.15 (compared with an average since 2021 of 0.35), and the market isn’t giving it much of a chance of success. Therein lies the opportunity for Filosa.
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