A turbulent end to the year at Stellantis. Indeed, the automobile group formalized this Sunday, December 1, the departure of its boss Carlos Tavares. A resignation with immediate effect “. Chaired by John Elkann, the board of directors “ today accepted the resignation of Carlos Tavares from his position as general manager with immediate effect. » This comes early as the Portuguese was due to complete his mandate at the start of 2026.
« The process of appointing the new permanent CEO, managed by a special committee of the Board of Directors, is well underway and will be completed during the first half of 2025. In the meantime, a new temporary executive committee, chaired by John Elkann, will be put in place,” we can read in the official press release.
Without Carlos Tavares, Peugeot Sport and the WEC in danger?
Obviously, this news raises many questions at different levels of the Stellantis group, starting with the sports branch and the 9X8 program in WEC. Could the departure of Carlos Tavares weaken the Hypercar project?
It's difficult to say at this time as Stellantis has started the process of finding a successor. But it would not be surprising if the sports branch suffered the consequences of this resignation.
As a reminder, Carlos Tavares, motorsport enthusiast, was one of the main spearheads of the project for Peugeot's return to Endurance, announced at the end of 2019, a few days after the end of the Citroën WRC program.
Previously, when he was deputy general manager for operations at Renault, he campaigned for the return of Alpine to competition, via LMP2 with Signatech, before the rebirth of the brand itself in 2017 with the new A110.
So what will happen to Peugeot Sport in the future? This will necessarily depend on the successor of Carlos Tavares and the direction that Stellantis takes while the Hypercar project, active since the 6 Hours of Monza in 2022, does not yet meet expectations.
Without forgetting that the automobile group's finances are not going well at the moment with a drop in sales. Still in sports, the house brands involved in Formula E do not seem to be on the same wavelength while Maserati has already confirmed its commitment to Gen4, which will be introduced from Season 13, at the end of 2026, but not yet DS. Perhaps proof that the future of Stellantis in motorsport is dotted…
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