Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares resigns amid problems in U.S.

DETROIT — Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares has unexpectedly resigned from the automaker amid increasingly “different views” between the executive and the board of directors, the company said Sunday.

The world’s fourth-largest carmaker said its board accepted Tavares’ resignation on Sunday. His departure is effective immediately.

Jeep-maker Stellantis said that its process to appoint a new CEO is “well under way” and that it expects to conclude the search during the first half of next year. Until then, the company said it will establish a new interim executive committee led by Chairman John Elkann.

“Stellantis’ success since its creation has been rooted in a perfect alignment between the reference shareholders, the Board and the CEO. However, in recent weeks different views have emerged which have resulted in the Board and the CEO coming to today’s decision,” Henri de Castries, Stellantis’ senior independent director, said in a release.

A Stellantis spokesman declined to disclose any additional information regarding the resignation.

U.S.-traded shares of the automaker were off roughly 7% during premarket trading Monday. Ahead of the resignation, the stock was down about 43% in 2024.

“The market will inevitably ask why the Stellantis board considered that not having a permanent CEO for some months was preferable to keeping the current CEO in situ,” Bernstein analyst Daniel Roeska said in an investor note Sunday night. “We struggle to identify any scenario under which these events can be positively spun as far as the stock price is concerned.”

Stellantis on Sunday reconfirmed its previously lowered guidance for the year that included an adjusted operating income margin of 5.5% and 7% and industrial free cash flow between minus 5 billion euros ($5.3 billion) to minus 10 billion euros.

Tavares’ resignation comes less than two months after the company announced he would retire at the end of his contract in early 2026. At the time, Stellantis said it planned to name a successor by the fourth quarter of next year.

Tavares, 66, had led Stellantis since its creation through a 2021 merger between Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and PSA Groupe, where he had been board chair since 2014.

The longtime automotive veteran — a prodigy of former Nissan executive Carlos Ghosn — was widely heralded in recent years for spearheading the merger and making Stellantis one of the world’s most profitable automakers.

But this year, the company’s financial results have severely underperformed expectations amid mismanagement of the U.S. market — its prime cash generator — with a lack of investment in new or updated products, historically high prices and extreme cost-cutting measures.

The company, which also owns brands such as Dodge, Fiat, Chrysler and Peugeot, lowered its annual guidance targets in September, a month ahead of the automaker reporting a 27% decline in third-quarter net revenue.

“The credibility of Carlos Tavares…