Stellantis reported a preliminary loss of $2.7 billion for the first half of 2025 – and the second half is looking to be even worse, the automaker warned Monday, putting much of the blame on Pres. Donald Trump’s automotive tariffs. Add program cuts and other issues and it creates some big challenges for new CEO Antonio Filosa. More from Headlight.News.
Sales of key RAM products, like this 1500, initially lagged expectations.
Euro-American automaker Stellantis expects to go about 2.3 billion euros, or $2.68 billion, into the red for the first half of this year, the company announced Monday, a sharp year-over-year reversal.
While that is a preliminary figure, even a modest improvement would come as a major setback compared to the company’s performance a year before when it generated a 5.6 billion net profit. But the situation looks only worse going forward, Stellantis officials warned, pointing to the anticipated impact of Pres. Donald Trump’s new tariff regime, including duties on imported autos and auto parts, as well as various metals essential to the auto industry.
“We will see significantly more (of a hit from tariffs) in the second half unless things change … given the current outlook, I would expect to see that figure probably double in the second half or more,” Chief Financial Officer Doug Ostermann said during a call with analysts and media, adding that Stellantis was seeing a total full-year impact of between €1 and €1.5 billion.
Tariff trouble
About 40% of Stellantis sales in the U.S. came from foreign plants last year, including this Alfa Romeo Stelvio.
New Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa faces a variety of challenges, including a number of speedbumps put in the industry way by Trump. Among the Big Three Detroit automakers it is arguably the most vulnerable to tariffs as it imports a higher number of vehicles for its various domestic and European brands. That includes Italian-made Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Maserati and Dodge models, as well as products assembled in Mexico and Canada, including the Chrysler Pacifica minivan and some of the Ram 1500 pickups.
In 2024, about 40% of Stellantis products sold in the U.S. were imported. The company has begun looking for ways to reduce its exposure by increasing domestic sources of vehicles, parts and raw materials. It has also reduced availability of some foreign-made products by delaying shipments.
During the first half of this year, those tariffs cost Stellantis about 300 million euros, or $351 million at current exchange rates, said Ostermann. And that’s considering the tariffs really only began ramping up during that period.
New CEO, old headaches
New Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa.
The tariffs clearly pose a challenge for the 52-year-old Italian-born Filosa who was named Stellantis CEO in May. He took the place of Carlos Tavares who resigned unexpectedly last December.
While Tavares initially appeared to put Stellantis on a good footing when it was formed in January 2021, things began going south last year, some of its problems the result of what the former CEO blamed on his own “arrogance.” There were a variety of missteps, notably a botched launch of the critical Ram 1500, the automaker’s single most profitable product line. Making matters worse, a number of former executives either quit or were forced out.
Under Filosa, some have been brought back, including the well-regarded Tim Kuniskis who is now serving as both head of Ram and the chief North American strategist for Stellantis as a whole. He has taken several steps generating improved demand for the pickup, among other things reviving the popular Hemi V-8 that had been abandoned when the latest-generation truck went on sale for the 2025 model year.
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Other challenges ahead
Since returning to Stellantis, Tim Kuniskis has been named both Ram brand chief and head of overall North American strategy.
The tariffs only contributed to the financial hit Stellantis took during the second quarter.
As it wraps up its accounting it indicated there will be more $3.8 billion in pretax net charges related to program cancellations, restructuring of various programs and other setbacks.
The Trump administration has created other headaches for Stellantis and its competitors, among other things taking steps expected to sharply reduce demand for battery-electric vehicles. For its part, the Netherlands-based Stellantis has just began rolling out a number of new EVs, including the Jeep Wagoneer S. Among the program changes it has initiated, the debut of the all-electric Ram 1500 has been pushed back by more than a year.
The White House may offer at least one helping hand. Last week, it announced it would not seek to collect fines for missing federal fuel economy standards between 2022 and 2025. Stellantis had run up penalties of $583 million between 2016 and 2020. It was believed to racking up similar fines over the past three years.
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