Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares has stepped down from his role as CEO with immediate effect.
Arguably one of the most influential and important figures in the automotive industry, Tavares steps down more than a year ahead of his scheduled retirement next year.
Tavares has been in charge of Stellantis since its creation when Fiat-Chrysler and PSA Group merged.
Prior to that the 66-year-old was CEO of the PSA Group for seven years.
He’s lead the 14 brands of Stellantis which includes Stellantis Pro One but has recently come under fire for declining electric vehicle sales.
The company issued a profit warning earlier this year, citing slow sales and struggles in North America.
In a statement Stellantis said: “Company’s Board of Directors, under the Chairmanship of John Elkann, accepted Carlos Tavares’ resignation today from his role as Chief Executive Officer with immediate effect.”
The statement continues: “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.”
Tavares has been a dominant figure in the industry and had led Stellantis to the position of the world’s fourth largest carmaker by sales.
Last week Stellantis announced it was to close the Luton van factory, home of Vauxhall, moving production to Ellesmere Port.
A company announcement said a new super site for electric vehicle production would be created, adding the medium electric van range to the production of all small electric vans from Stellantis.
Stellantis has been in the process of merging its van brands and production to streamline efficiencies.
Historic agreements meant that some vans, including the large Fiat, Citroen and Peugeot models have long shared a platform. However, the purchase of Vauxhall (which had agreements in place with Renault for its medium van range) meant that a models and productions had to be merged.
As a result, Stellantis launched its Pro One range of unified vans in 2023 with all models produced off shared small, medium and large platforms.
Although the commercial vehicle business has been successful, like its passenger car line-up, electric vehicle sales have been struggling.
Sales in the United States have also been hard to come by. Stellantis currently only sells its light commercial vehicles under the Ram brand in the US.
The Ram Promaster is its only van product in North America.
