We have his name on the tip of our tongue. But yes, remember this automobile boss, this man fired on a Sunday evening in December. It was less than two months ago, it was a lifetime ago.
So much has happened at Stellantis since the ouster of Carlos Tavares that we almost forget his name. Especially since all the decisions taken, since the beginning of this month of December which was fatal to him, are the opposite of the policy he has pursued for years at the head of the group. Worse than a disavowal: it is a one-way ticket to the oblivion of the history of this company, in part, more than a century old.
Bad atmosphere? From the past
The tense relations between management and its suppliers, its networks and even its employees? It's over, or at least, the virile conflict openly displayed as such is no longer relevant.
The absolute denial that has long served as a house policy in terms of quality (deplorable) Puretech blocks? It turned into a confession, an extension of guarantee and, ultimately, compensation. A plan put in place, like the patching up with the network and suppliers, by Jean-Philippe Imparato, head of Europe at the origin of this plan, judiciously called “Reconnect”.
Isolation, and always the taste for conflict, compared to other European manufacturers? The dissonant voice facing Brussels? It's over too. Stellantis has returned to ACEA, the association which brings together all the brands and whose new president is Olla Källenius, the boss of Mercedes. An organization from which Carlos Tavares slammed the door two years ago.
Washington's pet peeve? The company hated by the Biden administration during the long UAW strike? The one hated by Donald Trump because it is foreign? A conflict once again disappeared, because the first is packing its bags and the second could be rather conciliatory with Stellantis.
-A general turnaround due to one man: John Elkann, president of the group and interim operational boss. In a fascinating investigation for the magazine The Pointjournalist Béatrice Parrino follows the Italian dandy and reveals his networks where we find his friend Elon Musk and his friend Mark Zuckerberg. Elkann has just joined Meta’s board of directors. A position, and friends, very practical for having the ear of the new boss of the White House at a time when the latter wishes to seek trouble for any non-American company.
It is also Elkann who is in charge of leading the group's other changes in direction. The peace pipe smoked with the various interlocutors of Stellantis in particular. Would the president of the group be a real good guy compared to Tavares, the real bad guy?
A fake good guy after a real bad guy?
Make no mistake. The Agnelli heir, boss of Ferrari, of the Exor holding which brings together the family interests and CEO of the galaxy of 14 brands, may show a big and eternal smile, iHe is nonetheless sufficiently carnivorous to adopt very appropriate attitudes, whatever their ethics. His rapprochement with the tech side rallying around Trump is not linked to Mark Suckerberg's pretty frizz or Musk's charisma, but rather to their proximity to the new president.
But there is another sign which proves, if necessary, that Elkann is not just a well-bred boy with a prestigious pedigree. Stellantis was created on January 16, 2021. For almost four years, the Italian has been its CEO, and for more than three years Carlos Tavares has been its general director. During the latter's mandate, his actions, his cost-killing excessively was known to everyone, and especially to the board of directors.
As long as the operating margin soared, and the result exploded, this method suited John Elkann. Today times have changed and the time seems to be for kind governance, including with the bad Americans. Pure opportunism, say these detractors, an indispensable power of adaptation, retort its admirers.
