Stellantis on the hunt for a new CEO. Company has begun the search for the CEO's succession Carlos Tavares, whose contract ends in 2026. This was revealed Bloomberg, citing some sources close to the dossier according to which there are however no plans for an immediate change in leadership and the same Tavares will be included in the process of research of the Italian-French company.
Even though it is a "normal succession process", as specified by Stellantis, the news is making waves, also because it comes at a time when Tavares is under a lot of pressure due to the disappointing performance in North America. In the US, in fact, sales have slowed, several managers have left the company and the unions – especially the very powerful UAW – are once again on a war footing. The Stellantis board of directors will meet on 9 and 10 October in the US to evaluate the plans to be implemented to relaunch activities in the area, the same sources still report to the US agency.
Meanwhile also in Italy the situation is far from calm, with the Government continuing to ask for production increases in the country's plants and the unions expected to announce today, Tuesday 24 September, a collective mobilization against the group and are heading for a strike.
Stellantis: “It’s normal to look at succession plans”
It is “standard practice for a board of directors to deal with the expiry of a 5-year contract signed in January 2021 with the necessary advance notice, without this necessarily having an impact on the future, since there is always the possibility that Carlos Tavares will stay longer,” he told Bloomberg a spokesperson for the car manufacturer.
Tavares, 66, was one of the architects of the merger between FCA and PSA who created Stellantis and during his term as CEO has followed a rigorous cost-cutting path and is trying to cope with the weakening demand for electric cars intensified by competition from Chinese manufacturers. A few days ago the same manager admitted to having did “unpopular things” in recent years to avoid being in the situation that Volkswagen is in today,” the CEO said on the sidelines of the inauguration of the new global commercial vehicle hub at the Mirafiori Automotive Park 2030 in Turin. “We are working very hard to avoid the situation of Volkswagen and the future will tell whether we will be able to avoid some problems or not. It is too early to say today, it depends on many factors, on consumers, on how much we will be able to reduce costs, it depends on the willingness of European countries to support consumers in purchasing electric vehicles,” Tavares said.
