Before the end of the year, the Peugeot family must decide who will represent them on the Stellantis Board. Currently, Robert Peugeot (75) is the Vice-President of the Board, representing the PSA part of the group. At the same time, Agnelli heir John Elkann is the President of the Stellantis Board, representing the FCA interests.

Robert Peugeot’s mandate comes to an end at the next general meeting. He hopes that it will be prolonged for another two years, but there’s opposition within the family. Xavier Peugeot (61), a nephew of Robert, finds that the influence of the FCA division within the group has become overwhelming, and he wants to become the new VP to gain more control.

History of the Group

When Stellantis was created in 2021 as a merger of PSA and FCA, a subtle shareholder balance was installed between the ‘French’ and the ‘Italian’ side: The Peugeot holding obtained 7.74% of shares, the French public investment bank Bpifrance got 6.65% and then there were the employees; on the other side, there was the Agnelli holding, with 15.52%.

This equilibrium was also visible at the top of the new group: John Elkann, grandson of Gianni Agnelli, became Executive President of the board; Robert Peugeot, a non-executive Vice President; and Carlos Tavares, the boss of PSA, became the CEO.

Everything was turned upside down with the sudden leave of Tavares at the end of 2024. The weight of the Italian side increased drastically, and in the Peugeot family and at PSA, people were worried. John Elkann, who temporarily took over the company’s leadership, finally appointed Antonio Filosa as the new CEO, an Italo-Brazilian who had been leading the US part of the company.

His French opponent, Maxime Picat, lost the battle and left, with an essential number of top managers under Tavares following him. Since Antonio Filosa became CEO, an impressive number of top management reshuffles have occurred, with many new managers at the helm from FCA.

Last but not least, the publication of the strategic master plan for Stellantis has been postponed until 2026, and Antonio Filosa, eager to please the new Trump administration, has announced massive investments of the group in the US.

The Peugeot schisme

Inside the Peugeot family, things are beginning to move. Robert Peugeot’s position is known: he doesn’t oppose the venue of so many former FCA managers and says that it’s the return to balance after the Tavares period. His fellow thinkers insist that “the Board has no right to say to Filosa how he has to compose his management team.”

Within the family, Robert Peugeot is also in favor of diversifying the family’s assets to reduce its dependence on the automotive sector. His son, Edouard Peugeot (41), is a London banker and recently became President of the board of Peugeot Invest, the family holding that was long presided over by his father.

But now, there is Xavier Peugeot, one of the few members of the Peugeot family actually working at Stellantis. At the moment, Xavier leads DS Automobiles; before, he was CEO of the light commercial vehicles division.

He is much more worried about the quasi-omnipresence of former FCA managers at the top of Stellantis. He is supported by his brother Thierry, who has never concealed that he has a different view of things from his cousin Robert.

Thierry would have preferred to invest the dividends from the lucrative Tavares era (for shareholders) in increasing Peugeot’s stake in Stellantis. It would have resulted in a second board seat. Thierry is the history man in the family, and according to him, perseverance and courage are needed in the automotive sector, especially now.

And what about the French state, shareholder in Stellantis via BPifrance? “The government doesn’t want to be involved directly in this case, but Bpifrance will surely defend the French interests at the board meetings,” says the cabinet of the Minister of Industry, Sébastien Martin.

Inside the Peugeot family, a headhunter’s firm, Beyond Associés, has been asked for advice and support, according to the French press (Les Echos and L’Informé). Last week, on the 20th of November, an internal audition was held, during which both sides could defend their views. We’ll see what comes out of it.