With Tavares pushed out, Stellantis eager to rejoin ACEA

Carlos Tavares has hardly closed the door after leaving Stellantis and the French-Italian-American car manufacturing group is eager to rejoin ACEA, the European carmaker lobbying federation based in Brussels, to which Tavares waved goodbye at the end of 2022. It looks like Stellantis wants to make the best of a bad job now and join the chorus of those pushing the EU to loosen CO2 rules.

Tavares often disagreed with his colleagues’ views on ACEA’s official positions on matters like CO2 targets, which is why he departed in 2022. At that time, Tavares was unhappy with how ACEA failed to influence the EU decision to ban all ICE cars by 2035. Later, Tavares would make a 180-degree turn on that and become a defender of the 2035 target.

And recently, in response to the (unofficial) ACEA proposal to the European Commission in November to delay the 2025 emission targets for two years, Stellantis boss Carlos Tavares said, “It would be surreal to change the rules now.”

Time to have a race

“Everyone has known about the rules for a long time and has had time to prepare, and so now it’s time to have a race,” Tavares argued in an interview. “Stellantis is ready to meet the EU emission targets.” Apparently, not everybody at Stellantis was confident, and when Tavares reshuffled management and talked about closing factories to reach the EU targets, his head had to roll.

The week before, Luca di Meo, CEO of Renault and President of the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) warned in an interview with France Inter radio that reaching the targets would be almost impossible if EV sales kept slowing down. This could cost the carmakers up to 15 billion euros in fines.

Welcome back

Now, di Meo is welcoming Stellantis back with open arms. “ACEA welcomes Stellantis’ application to rejoin the association. Given Europe’s unprecedented competitiveness crisis and collective need to master the challenges of the green transformation, it is more important than ever to stand united. ACEA members may be competitors on the market, but they all share the same goal: a competitive and sustainable transition to zero-emission mobility, in a Europe that can stand its ground globally. This we will continue working on with full drive and commitment,” stated Luca de Meo, ACEA President and CEO of Renault Group.

Controversial

Since leaving Renault in 2013 after feuding with ‘the other Carlos,’ his then-Renault boss Carlos Ghosn, who already stumbled in 2018, Carlos Tavares has been successful but also controversial. He was known as the cost-cutter ‘par excellence’, but he also brought his creation, the Stellantis group, to unknown heights in financial profits, earning him the nickname ‘Mister Double-Digit’.

He could be stubborn and controversial in his sayings, too. A few years ago, he left the Association of European Car Manufacturers (ACEA) because he disagreed with the strategy to follow. In the recent debate about postponing the fines for trespassing EU CO2 targets for 2025, he didn’t hesitate to counter his CEO colleagues by saying that nothing had to change because some had not done their homework. He had done it.

However, the worldwide crisis in the automotive industry also badly hit his company, especially in the States, where half a million Chryslers and Jeeps are waiting for a customer, and high rebates have almost slaughtered the cash cow it formerly was for the whole group.

Just recently, the Stellantis CEO declared that he wouldn’t close any factory in France or Italy and that things were slowly changing for the better. He confirmed that the company was still aiming for a profit margin of 5.5 to 7%. Apparently, he couldn’t convince workers or shareholders anymore.