Stellantis Shuffles the Deck Again While CEO Search Continues

Stellantis continued its quest to put the right executives in the right jobs, in the wake of former CEO Carlos Tavares’ early exit late last year. The biggest change was having current Americas Regions COO Antonio Filosa take on the role of global leadership of Quality.

Filosa remains a candidate to succeed Tavares, as well. No new information has been offered about that ongoing effort beyond Filosa’s role in it.

“Building on the changes made in December, today’s announcements will further simplify our organization and increase our local agility and rigor of execution,” said Stellantis Chairman John Elkann in a statement announcing the changes.

“We look forward to driving growth by providing our customers with an even larger choice of great combustion, hybrid and electric vehicles.”

Other moves

As part of the December moves, Filosa was given responsibility for Jeep as well; however, that is now being handed over to Bob Broderdorf. It’s a move up from his previous gig as senior vice president and head of Jeep Brand North America.

Prior to that, he held several senior positions in rapid succession across the Stellantis lineup, including senior vice president, Ram Global Operations in 2023 and senior vice president, Dodge Operations in 2022.

The company also announced the following changes:

• Alain Favey joins Stellantis and is appointed to lead the Peugeot brand. He’s replacing Linda Jackson, who is retiring.
• Xavier Peugeot is appointed to lead the DS Automobiles brand.
• Anne Abboud is appointed to lead Stellantis Pro One commercial vehicles unit. She takes over for Jean-Philippe Imparato, who has been leading Stellantis European operations since October.

Olivier François, who previously executive vice president of marketing in addition to Fiat, Abarth and DS, will now head up a new “marketing office” to help each of the company’s brads with advertising, global events and sponsorships.

More Stellantis News

• Shake-up Sends Once-Rising Stellantis Star Kuniskis into Retirement
• CEO Carlos Tavares’ Resignation Leaves Stellantis Rudderless
  
• Brand Boss Christine Fuell Bills Halcyon Concept as Chrysler’s EV Future

Why it’s happening

All of this shuffling comes against the backdrop of Elkann’s search for a replacement for Tavares, who retired ahead of the end of his contract in 2026. Tavares who arrived just a few years ago with a reputation for being tough and disciplined, wore out his welcome with the board of directors.

“Stellantis’ success since its creation has been rooted in a perfect alignment between the reference shareholders, the Board and the CEO,” Senior Independent Director, Henri de Castries said in the statement in December. “However, in recent weeks different views have emerged which have resulted in the Board and the CEO coming to today’s decision.”

The once-promising merger of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and France’s Groupe PSA hasn’t been going as planned. Net profits at Stellantis were off by nearly 50% for the first half of this year, largely due to a slump in North American sales. In September Stellantis lowered its full-year guidance, net revenue subsequently falling 27% year-over-year for the third quarter.

A variety of factors caught blame, including delayed product launches, aggressive pricing that failed to consider growing consumer resistance, and increasingly bloated inventories. In June, Tavares himself admitted his own “arrogance” led him to miss some of the warning signs.

Whatever the reason, the company has been forced to offer big price cuts and incentives, even as it’s trimmed production at the two brands that have traditionally provided its biggest profits: Jeep and Ram. In turn, it has announced a series of layoff impacting thousands of U.S. employees.