As of today, Antonio Filosa has started as the new CEO of Stellantis. After three weeks of visiting Stellantis factories, R&D centers, and offices worldwide, he officially started his new job by reshuffling his management team. Meanwhile, important decisions are to be made soon as the world’s fourth-largest car manufacturer has to recover from an ‘annus horribilis’ last year and the sudden departure of former CEO Carlos Tavares.
Today, Filosa sent out a message about the configuration of its new top management team. Tomorrow, the 250 top managers of the group will meet in Turin, and on Wednesday, he will hold a video conference for all employees to outline the company’s new strategy. It is not expected that Filosa will deploy the new 5-year plan following the defunct ‘Dare Forward’ plan of his predecessor.
“It is my great privilege to take the lead of Stellantis, a global company with deep regional roots,” says CEO Antonio Filosa. “We have unique strengths in our great people, our iconic brands, and our millions of customers, whose loyalty to our Company, its fantastic products, and its unique stories can only inspire us to new achievements.”
The new management
Antonio Filosa adds: “The team I’m announcing today draws on all that is best in Stellantis, leaders from within who bring a people-first mindset, a profound understanding of our brands, our products, and our customers, best-in-class expertise, and an entrepreneurial spirit that will be vital to our success.”
“We all share an immense pride in our history and a constant dedication to building our future together, and in close collaboration with our dealers, suppliers, partners, and communities. With the talent and passion of this team, we will harness our multiple strengths to make Stellantis one of the winners in this next era for our Company and our industry.”
The Stellantis Leadership Team (SLT) announced today is as follows: Antonio Filosa, CEO, retains his role as head of North America
and American Brands, Doug Ostermann, CFO, is responsible for mergers and acquisitions, as well as joint ventures, Jean-Philippe Imparato continues in his role as head of Enlarged Europe & European Brands, which will now also include Maserati.
Emanuele Cappellano joins the SLT in his role as head of South America and takes responsibility for Stellantis Pro One, the Company’s commercial vehicles business unit. Philippe de Rovira is appointed to lead Rest of World and retains responsibility for Stellantis Financial Services. Davide Mele joins the SLT to lead Product Planning. Ned Curic continues his leadership of Product Development &
Technology.
Sébastien Jacquet, who was appointed head of Quality earlier this month, joins the SLT. Monica Genovese is appointed head of Purchasing. Scott Thiele assumes a newly created role as Head of Supply Chain and joins the SLT, bringing together activities previously located in Planning and Manufacturing. Arnaud Deboeuf continues to lead Manufacturing.
Xavier Chéreau continues to lead Human Resources and Sustainability. Clara Ingen-Housz joins the SLT in her role as head of Corporate Affairs & Communications.
In addition to the Stellantis Leadership Team, the following four executives will also report directly to the CEO: Ralph Gilles, as head of Design; Olivier François, as head of Marketing; Alison Jones, who now leads Parts & Services and Circular Economy; and Giorgio Fossati, as General Counsel. Richard Palmer will continue as a strategic advisor to the Company.
Maxime Picat at Renault?
Over the last few weeks, the French employees of Stellantis have been anxious about today’s announcement and the question of where Maxime Picat would be posted. Picat was the other top candidate for the CEO post, but apparently, he was ‘too French’ for Stellantis chairman John Elkann and his board of directors.
The French fear that he would leave the company has now been confirmed. Filosa concluded his reshuffle announcement as follows: “As we move into this next chapter of our Stellantis history, I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere thanks to Maxime Picat and Béatrice Foucher for their notable contributions to Stellantis during their many years of dedicated service. We all wish them the best in their future endeavors.”
Rumors have it that Maxime Picat will be the new CEO of Renault Group after the sudden departure of Luca de Meo to Kering, the luxury brands group. At last, this relatively unknown but also underestimated ‘car guy’ has the chance to lead a car company.
Picat was Carlos Tavares’ right hand, executing the ungrateful work of cost-cutting where he could to achieve the goals of his boss: unparalleled profit margins. “At the same time, he has really worked very hard to keep the car industry present in France,” says an insider. That’s why the French employees at Stellantis will have mixed feelings this morning.
Tough decisions
Filosa’s honeymoon period at the helm of Stellantis won’t take long. He will not only have to take some important and sometimes painful decisions, but he will also have John Elkann closely looking over his shoulder. The latter doesn’t want to be in a position anymore where a flamboyant but also autocratic CEO, in this case Tavares, has everything to say.
His first task is to restore confidence inside the company. At the same time, suppliers and clients must be reassured: years of continuous pressure on margins and a focus on cost reduction have strained relations widely. Third, but surely the most important: the question will surely arise if Stellantis really needs all its brands.
Carlos Tavares has consistently stated that all of his brands were viable and that they each have their place in the Stellantis portfolio. However, Filosa will have to answer whether a brand like Lancia has its place when it sold only 32,600 cars last year and is still dependent on a single model, the Ypsilon.
What about DS, a brand that wants to appeal with its ‘French chic’ but only sold 40,900 cars last year. And what about Maserati? Here also, rumors have it that Stellantis’ only luxury brand is for sale.
Last year, sales were halved to 11,300 units, and the brand registered an operational loss of €260 million. But selling the iconic Trident brand would really hurt the two Italians now at the head of the company.
Last but not least, investments will need to be made in all brands, but especially in the US, where former cash cows like Jeep, Dodge, or RAM are in dire need of rejuvenation of their model offerings.
“Investments will have to be made to alter the model mix and renew the portfolios,” says a highly positioned manager at Stellantis, ‘but at the moment we’re burning a lot of cash, and then the old demons of investment stop are reappearing.” And then, there’s the board that wants its double-digit profit margins again. Filosa won’t get bored in the years to come…
