New ACEA President is Mercedes-Benz CEO Ola Källenius

The Board of Directors of the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) has elected Ola Källenius, Chairman of the Board of Management of the Mercedes-Benz Group, as its new President, who will assume this function from 1 January 2025.

Ola Källenius will take over the presidency from Renault Group’s CEO, Luca de Meo, who has held the position for the last two years. Today, the Board has also approved the membership of Stellantis N.V., which will join ACEA (again) on 1 January 2025.

Personal quotes

“Now is the time to play more collaboratively than ever in Europe,” says de Meo. “Welcoming Stellantis back to ACEA signals that the industry is stronger when acting with a common voice.”

“European automakers are facing an unprecedented competitiveness crisis while managing a highly challenging decarbonization transition. At this critical moment, the unity of our sector is paramount,” he adds.

“I know this is a conviction shared with Ola Källenius. He can count on my support as he becomes the new ACEA president. On my side, I remain fully dedicated to making Europe’s industry move forward,” de Meo concludes.

Ola Källenius’ reaction: “ACEA is one of Brussels’s most relevant and trusted industry voices. I’m honored to be taking over from Luca de Meo as ACEA president at such a critical moment for Europe’s automotive industry. Thank you to the members of ACEA for placing their trust in me and the entire ACEA team, who are tirelessly bolstering the standing of our industry with the political institutions in Brussels.”

“During my presidency, ACEA will focus on improving regulatory conditions to sharpen our competitive edge in the digital and electric era. We will work toward fostering market-driven decarbonization of our industry. And we will champion international trade that is free, fair, and rule-based. I’m confident the EU automotive industry has what it takes to succeed in the global competition,” he concludes.

The ACEA President is elected for a year-long term, once renewable. He/she is chosen from the CEOs of its member companies, 14 of the largest Europe-based car, van, truck, and bus manufacturers operating globally.

Stellantis

So, Stellantis has joined the ranks of ACEA again. Back in 2022, Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares decided to leave ACEA. The message of Carlos Tavares leaving his CEO position at Stellantis was still hot when Stellantis had already re-applied for membership in the association.

The outgoing ACEA President, Luca de Meo, reacted immediately last week: “ACEA welcomes Stellantis’s application to rejoin the association. Given Europe’s unprecedented competitiveness crisis and collective need to master the challenges of the green transformation, standing united is more important than ever.”

ACEA members may be competitors in the market. Still, they all share the same goal: a competitive and sustainable transition to zero-emission mobility in a Europe that can stand its ground globally. We will continue working on this with entire drive and commitment,” he added.

Stellantis left ACEA in June 2022 because Tavares didn’t understand why ACEA wasn’t fighting harder against the planned ban on ICE cars in 2035. A month later, Volvo Cars also left the association, but with an entirely different motivation: “After careful consideration, we have decided that the strategy and the sustainability ambitions of Volvo Cars aren’t in line with the positioning and the way of (re)acting of ACEA anymore,” says the statement.

Apparently, at Stellantis, the adversarial position of CEO Tavares toward the association was discussed inside the group. We will see if Volvo’s views have changed now that other people are in top management. Of course, the fact that the Chinese Geely Holding owns Volvo Cars also has to be seriously considered.