Stellantis reported a preliminary net loss of €2.3 billion for the first six months. The company expects a greater impact from the US tariffs on vehicle and auto parts imports in the second half of the year.
Stellantis also explained that President Donald Trump’s tariffs had cost it €300 million so far, as the company reduced vehicle shipments and cut some production to adjust manufacturing levels.
Chief Financial Officer Doug Ostermann informed analysts that the €300 million impact was not representative of what the group expects for the second half, as tariffs only came into effect partway through the first half.
“We will see significantly more in the second half unless things change. Given the current outlook, I would expect to see that figure probably double in the second half or more,” he said, adding that Stellantis was seeing a total full-year impact of between €1 and €1.5 billion.
Huge challenge
The company’s preliminary first-half results, which compared with a €5.6 billion net profit a year earlier, underscore the challenge for the new CEO, Antonio Filosa, who was appointed in May after poor results in 2024 led to the ousting of former boss Carlos Tavares.
In a letter to employees, Filosa said, “The first six months of 2025 had been tough, with increasing external headwinds including tariffs, foreign exchange effects, and challenging macro-economic conditions.”
“Despite difficulties, it has also been six months of meaningful progress compared to the second half of 2024,” he added, pointing to new product launches and decisions to cut underperforming programs.
Under Tavares, industry experts said Stellantis had priced itself out of the US market and failed to update popular models, resulting in vast numbers of unsold cars.
Last year, Stellantis imported over 40% of the 1.2 million vehicles it sold in the US, mainly from Mexico and Canada. In April, the automaker said it had reduced vehicle imports in response to tariffs and would calibrate “production and employment to reduce impacts on profitability.”
North American shipments, or deliveries of cars to dealers, distributors, and retail and fleet customers, declined by 25% in the second quarter, Stellantis said in a news release on July 21. Global second-quarter shipments fell by 6 percent compared to the same period a year earlier, to an estimated 1.4 million vehicles.
Shift to hybrids and even ICE
Stellantis said it booked €3.3 billion in pretax charges for the first half as it cancelled vehicle programs, including a hydrogen fuel cell project, while investing more in popular hybrid cars in Europe and large gasoline-powered models in the US.
Earlier this month, Stellantis unveiled a €17,000 hybrid Fiat 500, which the automaker is banking on to revive its ailing production in Italy. The car is expected to help revive Fiat’s sales amid a slower-than-expected market for battery-electric cars.
The company also mentioned the net impact of alignment on the emissions regulations in the US, where authorities in June published the final ruling on the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards, which regulate how far vehicles must travel on a gallon of fuel.
In April, Stellantis suspended its profit forecasts for 2025 due to uncertainty about tariffs. However, on July 21, it announced that it would publish its unaudited preliminary financial data to align analyst forecasts with the group’s actual performance.
The group’s first-half revenue was €74.3 billion, down from €85 billion in the first half of 2024, but up from the second half of 2024 when revenue was €71.8 billion. Stellantis said it burned through €2.3 billion of cash in the first half.
Analyst reactions
The results were “worse than consensus, but we think poor numbers were anticipated,” Jefferies analyst Philippe Houchois wrote in a client note. Bernstein analysts said that despite a “big” earnings miss, the restructuring steps taken by Stellantis “suggest decisive actions.”
J.P. Morgan analysts said the results reflect “the early stages of actions being taken to improve performance and profitability, with new products expected to deliver larger benefits in the second half of 2025.” Stellantis will publish its final results for the first half on July 29.
Expand Moroccan production capacity
Meanwhile, Stellantis is set to double the production capacity of its plant in Morocco in the next few months. This could enable it to produce up to 535,000 vehicles annually at the Kenitra facility.
The plant reached an annual production capacity of 200,000 cars back in 2020, but Reuters reports this is set to more than double to 535,000 vehicles over the next few months. This follows a €1.2 billion expansion of the plant.
It’s important to note that the plant not only produces EVs, but also ICE vehicles. Stellantis plans to use the site to produce 350,000 engines per year, a process that started in May when the company began assembling new mild hybrids there. However, the expanded plant will also be used to produce full BEVs, in particular the company’s series of superminis.
Stellantis’ COO for the Middle East and Africa, Samir Cherfan, stated that this initiative will encompass vehicles such as the Citroën Ami, the Opel Rocks-e, and the Fiat Topolino. In January, the annual production of these models increased from 20,000 units to 70,000.
The plant will also be used to produce a new range of three-wheeled EVs. This includes the new Fiat Professional Tris, an electric remake of the Ape designed for last-mile logistics. At its launch, Fiat announced that the three-wheeler would initially be introduced in the MEA region, with the possibility of expansion to Europe in the future.
