As CEO Tavares leaves Stellantis, market speculates on successor

MILAN, – Carlos Tavares abruptly resigned on Sunday as CEO of Stellantis, two months after a profit warning, and the carmaker said it would seek to appoint a permanent successor in the first half of next year.

The Stellantis board is considering the head of North American operations Antonio Filosa and procurement Chief Maxime Picat as internal candidates for the CEO position, a source close to the matter said on Monday. The board is also considering external candidates, the source said.

In the meantime the maker of brands including Jeep, Ram, Fiat and Peugeot, will be run by a newly-established Interim Executive Committee, headed by the group’s Chairman John Elkann.

International press and sources have flagged the following as among possible candidates to succeed Tavares:

Picat, currently Stellantis’ chief purchasing and supplier quality officer, previously served as COO for the ‘Enlarged Europe’ region when the group was created in January 2021. The 50-year-old French civil engineer joined Peugeot maker PSA in 1998, where he held different positions, including managing director of the DongFeng Peugeot Citroen Automobiles joint venture in China. He was one of the young managers developed by Carlos Tavares at PSA.

Filosa was made COO of Stellantis’ key North American market in October, as part of a top management reshuffle that followed the group’s profit warning. Filosa, an Italian national, joined Fiat Group in 1999 and worked in several roles, especially in Latin America, becoming Fiat Chrysler chief in the region from 2018. He then served as Stellantis COO for South America before being appointed global head of the Jeep brand in 2023, a role he retains.

The 58-year-old Frenchman is a former brands chief at Peugeot and at Alfa Romeo who was promoted in October to be COO of the Enlarged Europe region at Stellantis. Imparato is regarded as close to Tavares and during the recent Paris Auto Show dismissed speculation about him getting the CEO role: “I have neither the expertise, nor the ambition, to do that job,” he said. A fluent Italian speaker, he also heads Stellantis’ lucrative commercial vehicle unit Pro One.

Renault’s CEO has previously held top roles at Fiat Chrysler under Sergio Marchionne and at Volkswagen, where he also headed the Seat brand. An Italian national, De Meo, 57, was appointed Renault CEO in 2020 and completed the French automaker’s turnaround. A move to Stellantis might also be part of an eventual merger with Renault, which has been at the centre of market speculation in recent months. Renault just renewed De Meo’s CEO mandate for another four years.

The American national was appointed Stellantis Chief Financial officer in October, after serving in different roles for the group in China, including as chief operating officer for the region, where he had a key role in striking a wide cooperation agreement with local automaker Leapmotor. Ostermann joined former Fiat Chrysler in 2016 as group treasurer.

The British-born former CEO of Fiat Chrysler, who succeeded Sergio Marchionne in 2018 and led the Italian American automaker into the merger with PSA, is now head of the U.S. largest auto retailer AutoNation Inc. Manley ran FCA’s U.S. operations under Marchionne and is very familiar with Stellantis’ American brands, all inherited from FCA. He left Stellantis in late 2021 after briefly serving as head of Americas for the newly-created group.

The highly respected Stellantis former CFO, who left the group in 2023, was appointed special adviser to Chairman Elkann on Monday and will attend the newly created Interim Executive Committee. Palmer had previously served as CFO at Fiat and Chrysler for 15 years.

A Spanish native and a U.S. citizen, Munoz was appointed Hyundai Motor’s CEO last month after serving as COO at the South Korean automaker since 2019 and being credited with record North American sales. He previously worked for Asian automakers Nissan, Toyota and Daewoo, after starting at Citroen in 1989.

Stellantis Chairman Elkann could also consider a tech industry executive for the top job at the French Italian automaker, Italian daily Il Giornale said on Monday, although it said Elkann was leaning towards an internal candidate. The choice of a tech executive would highlight the increasing emphasis the auto industry is putting on software and technology. In 2021, Elkann picked Benedetto Vigna, an executive at chipmaker STMicroelectronics, to head sports carmaker Ferrari.

A ninth generation representative of France’s Peugeot family, he’s the son of Stellantis board member board Robert Peugeot. He has just been nominated to succeed his father as chairman of the family holding. A source close to the family, however, denied he would be running for the Stellantis CEO job.

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