Stellantis Boss Threatens Underperforming Brands

Seeing red, both in the board room and on the balance sheet, Stellantis chief executive Carlos Tavares is spelling out a plan for underperforming brands – and it’s a plan which could include no small amount of chopping and pruning.

According to reports, Tavares expressed a pinch of frustration with lossmaking brands in the sprawling Stellantis house.

“If they don’t make money, we’ll shut them down,” he apparently told reporters in a media scrum following an earnings call which delivered worse-than-expected financial results for the first half of this year. “We cannot afford to have brands that do not make money.”

Alert readers will recall that, not too long ago, Tavares was giving all 14 brands a bit of leash to prove themselves after the merger between Fiat Chrysler and PSA.

Back in 2021, he was quoted as saying "For the time being, we love them all. Each (brand) CEO has 10 years for which I am telling him or her that he has the funding, the ability to build his long-term business plan and plan for the different product launches and technologies to make the brand grow or rebound and create value for the company."

How quickly one can fall out of love when the bank account starts to empty, eh?

Elsewhere in Stellantis corner offices, Chief Financial Officer Natalie Knight has said the company taking "decisive actions to address operational challenges" in North America, calling that market the one which “needs the most work,” and musing about cutting production and prices. Tavares pointed further fingers at North America whilst speaking about improving performance and cutting inventory, saying “We consider that the job is done in Europe. The job is not done in the U.S.”

Through the first half of this year, North American sales at Stellantis brands are down 16 percent, delivering roughly 677,000 vehicles compared to the 800k+ during the same time frame in 2023. Alarmingly, big profit machines are contributing to that performance, with Ram pickup trucks off 20 percent, Wrangler down 9 percent, and Grand Cherokee slipping 15 percent. It’s worth noting that, in terms of raw volume, the GC is down by roughly as much as the Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer are up. Take from that what you will.

[Image: Stellantis]

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