After the resignation of its CEO, Carlos Tavares, Stellantis' stock plunges

Stellantis shares fell by more than 7%, Monday, December 2, on the Paris Stock Exchange, after the announcement of the resignation on Sunday of its CEO, Carlos Tavares, including several unions in the group and in the automobile industry. congratulated. Around 9:45 a.m. (Paris time), the manufacturer's stock lost 7.41%, to 11.61 euros, in last place in the CAC 40 index, itself down 0.96%.

The automobile group, parent company of Peugeot, Citroën, Jeep and Fiat, announced the resignation on Sunday “with immediate effect” of Mr. Tavares, whose successor will be named in the first half of 2025. The board of directors had already suspended Mr. Tavares, 66, by announcing his retirement at the beginning of October and launched a succession process , but disagreements accelerated his resignation. This decision is the result of “different points of view” between the board of directors and the general manager, explained Henri de Castries, director of Stellantis.

John Elkann, chairman of the board of directors of Stellantis and heir to the group's main shareholder, the Italian Agnelli family, had notably ruled out any merger with another automobile group in October, while Mr. Tavares left the door open.

“Mistreated labor force”

The departure of the Franco-Italian-American group of Carlos Tavares, criticized for its inflexible management methods and its waves of job cuts, was welcomed by several unions in the automobile industry.

Shawn Fain, director of the powerful American union United Auto Workers (UAW), welcomed “an important step in the right direction for a company that has been poorly run and a mistreated workforce”. Thousands of UAW members have been calling for Mr. Tavares' resignation for several weeks because of his “irresponsible management”recalled Mr. Fain in a message published by CNBC.

For the CGT of Stellantis, Mr. Tavares “is not to be complained about and no worker will regret it” a leader “which massacred jobs and destroyed thousands of families”. “On the other hand, what will be the check for his starting amount? 50 million? 100 million? »asked the French union.

In Italy, the UILM union asked for « rupture » to the next leader of Stellantis, with priority to be given to “Italian workers and factories”notably at Maserati, whose sales have collapsed. The process of appointing the new general director of the group is already “on track” et “will be completed during the first half of 2025”assured the group.

Architect of the merger of Fiat, PSA and Chrysler

Coming from Renault, Mr. Tavares made a name for himself by turning around the PSA group (Peugeot-Citroën) from 2014, by reducing costs. He then led the megamerger of PSA and FCA (Fiat-Chrysler). Since the creation of this group of fourteen brands in 2021, Stellantis has set net profit records. The group also quickly turned to hybrid and electric cars.

But Stellantis coughed in the first half of 2024, with net profit halved, before seeing its margins collapse in the face of more serious difficulties than expected in North America with vehicles of criticized quality and prices considered too high. . Mr. Tavares had to abandon his sacred operating margin objective at the end of September “two digits” for the year, which placed it far ahead of its competitors.