Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares resigned from the company just two years before his planned retirement, the Ram Trucks parent company announced.
An interim executive committee will oversee Stellantis until it finds a new CEO. The company expects to find its next leader by the middle of 2025.
Tavares was Stellantis’s first and only CEO after the company was created in 2021. The company emerged from a merger between Fiat Chrysler and PSA Group, making it the fourth largest automaker in the world. Along with Ram Trucks, its automotive OEM portfolio includes Jeep, Dodge, Chrysler, Alfa Romeo, Fiat, and several others.
“Stellantis’ success since its creation has been rooted in a perfect alignment between the reference shareholders, the board, and the CEO,” stated Henri de Castries, Stellantis’ senior independent director. “However, in recent weeks, different views have emerged, which have resulted in the board and the CEO coming to today’s decision.”
In October, Tavares said he planned to retire in 2026 at the end of his contract. However, the Stellantis executive board said on Sunday that it accepted Tavares’s resignation “with immediate effect.”
Tavares’s resignation comes as the company struggles with a weak market. Stellantis’s Q3 2024 sales were down 20% year over year, and its stock price plunged 40% from last year.
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Ram's focus on fleets fares well
While overall sales fell, the company’s commercial fleet sales fared somewhat better in 2024.
In March, the company launched Ram Professional, a new commercial vehicle division combining all of its light-duty commercial vehicle offerings into a single business operation. The division includes the Ram work trucks, vans, and chassis.
“Our goal globally is to be the No. 1 LCV (light-duty commercial vehicle) provider,” Ram Professional VP Ken Kayser told FleetOwner in March. “We’re already No. 1 in Europe. We’re No. 1 in South America. We’re No. 3 in North America, and we look to close the gap and become No. 1.”
Sales for Ram’s ProMaster van in Q3 increased 29% quarter over quarter, while sales for its 2500/3500 model trucks increased 26% from the previous year.
