Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares steps down
CNN
Stellantis, the maker of Jeep, Fiat and Peugeot, announced on Sunday that CEO Carlos Tavares has resigned.
Stellantis, the maker of Chrysler, Jeep, Fiat and Peugeot among other brands, announced on Sunday that embattled CEO Carlos Tavares has resigned due to differences with the board and in the face of disappointing sales and calls for his ouster. The departure comes following a steep drop in Stellantis’ sales, a glut of unsold vehicles on dealers’ lots, layoffs at several of its plants, and calls for his departure from not only the United Auto Workers union, which represents its US workers, but also from a council of its US dealers. Tavares and the Stellantis board of directors had “different views,” which led to his resignation, Stellantis’ Senior Independent Director Henri de Castries, said in the release. Tavares, 66, a Portuguese businessman who was central to the deal that merged French automaker PSA Group, maker of Peugeot, and the European-American automaker Fiat-Chrysler, into the newly named Stellantis. He had been chairman of PSA Group ahead of that deal, which closed in January 2021. Earlier this year, it was announced that Tavares would retire at the end of his contract in early 2026. “The process to appoint the new permanent Chief Executive Officer is well under way, managed by a Special Committee of the Board, and will be concluded within the first half of 2025. Until then, a new Interim Executive Committee, chaired by John Elkann, will be established,” the company said in a news release. The company said in an email to CNN that it has no further comments.