Stellantis reshuffles management and announces departure of CEO in 2026

As of now, the Stellantis group is definitely and officially in search of a new CEO. Its creator and current CEO, Carlos Tavares, will end his mandate in early 2026, and it will not be renewed. Meanwhile, the current boss has reshuffled his management in the wake of the group’s receding sales and profit figures this year.

“To drive simplification and enhance organizational performance in a turbulent global environment, Stellantis today announced targeted management changes, effective immediately, under the leadership of CEO Carlos Tavares. These changes will redouble the Company’s focus on its key business priorities and confront head-on the industry’s global challenges,” an official press release announced yesterday.

Musical chair

Antonio Filosa has been appointed North America’s Chief Operating Officer in addition to his role as Jeep brand CEO. He succeeds Carlos Zarlenga, whose next position will be subject to further announcement. “Having successfully led Stellantis’ South America Region’s excellent performance, driving increased revenue, quality, and market share, Antonio brings a wealth of business and leadership experience to this new role,” says the press release.

Jean-Philippe Imparato has been appointed Chief Operating Officer of Enlarged Europe in addition to his role as CEO of Pro One. He succeeds Uwe Hochgeschurtz, who will leave the Company. “With almost 34 years of experience in brands, business units, and commercial network management with the Company, Jean-Philippe will reinforce the region’s commercial performance during the critical period of the energy transition, with his particular focus on sales.

Doug Ostermann has been appointed Chief Financial Officer, succeeding Natalie Knight, who will leave the Company. “Doug has more than 19 years of experience in finance across three international groups, including Stellantis and another OEM, and was previously Stellantis China’s Chief Operating Officer.”

Gregoire Olivier has been appointed Chief Operating Officer of China and remains the Liaison Officer to Leapmotor, leveraging his expert knowledge and experience in the Chinese market. He replaces Doug Ostermann.

Santo Ficili has been appointed CEO of Maserati and Alfa Romeo and a member of the Top Executive Team, “taking advantage of his extensive knowledge of the automotive sector and commercial operations.” Predecessor Davide Grasso’s next position will be subject to a further announcement.

Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares commented: “During this Darwinian period for the automotive industry, our duty and ethical responsibility is to adapt and prepare ourselves for the future, better and faster than our competitors to deliver clean, safe and affordable mobility.”

“The newly appointed leadership team members will make valuable contributions to our team’s determination to tackle the challenges ahead, reinforcing and accelerating our transformation to become the preferred mobility tech company. I want to thank everyone who contributed to laying the foundations for Stellantis’ future success.”

John Elkann, Chairman of the Board of Directors, said: “The Board is unanimous in its support of Carlos Tavares and for the decisive changes announced today. We are confident that these steps to simplify our organization will strengthen our leadership team as they work to restore the Company’s performance to industry-leading levels.”

Tavares’ last fight?

The Company also confirmed that the formal process to identify a successor to Carlos Tavares when he retires at the conclusion of his CEO term in early 2026 is already underway. This is being led by a Special Committee of the Board Chaired by John Elkann and will complete its work by the fourth quarter of 2025.

After being lauded by everyone as one of the most competent car industry leaders, Carlos Tavares is now being blamed for the sudden relapse of the Stellantis group he created. The operating margin was still in the double digits these last years, but it has been revised to a meager 5.5-7%  for 2024.

The reason for this is seriously receding sales in Europe and even more in North America, which has been the group’s cash cow until now. In his renowned style, the “master cost-cutter” hasn’t hesitated for long to reshuffle its top management.

It will probably be the charismatic CEO’s last significant move as the group’s undisputed leader. Tavares created Stellantis in 2021 as a merger between PSA and FCA groups. He previously practically saved PSA from bankruptcy and steered it to take over Opel from GM in 2018.

Carlos Tavares started his automotive career in 1981 at Renault, where he became the number two in 2011. The competition with the other Carlos (Carlos Ghosn, then CEO of Renault) made him leave the company in 2013 and try his managerial skills at the direct French competition, PSA.