Recently, Carlos Tavares has announced his resignation after nearly four years as the CEO of Stellantis. This year, the car maker has been facing many obstacles among larger market changes, which resulted with the company laying off more than 1,000 workers in Warren, Michigan in October.
Luke Ramseth, an autos and business reporter at the Detroit News, talked with Stateside about the recent news of Tavares’ resignation.
“This company really has been sort of trying to figure out how to turn things around lately after a pretty rough year both in the US and Europe, in terms of slower sales and declining profits,” Ramseth said.
According to Ramseth, Stellantis has been struggling compared to other automakers. One of the reasons for these struggles involves pricing. With rising inflation, consumers have become a bit more price-sensitive this year. Plus, the company has seen a slum in sales.
“Their sales have really been down, especially in the United States,” noted Ramseth. “Which is really, you know, a profit-rich market for them, but also in Europe and other parts of the world.”
Ramseth also provided information about previous Stellantis CEO, Carlos Tavares. In 2021, Tavares was the architect of the merger, combining Fiat, Chrysler, and Peugeot, that started the creation of Stellantis. Moreover, throughout his career, Tavares gained a reputation for cutting costs, and emphasized cost-cutting as the company was attempting to make a transition towards producing electric vehicles.
“And, you know, I think he felt like he was the guy to sort of guide this company through this really difficult few year period,” Ramseth stated. “The industry at large is trying to figure out how to pivot to EVs.”
Hear the full conversation on the Stateside podcast.
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GUESTS ON TODAY’S SHOW:
- Luke Ramseth, Autos and Business Reporter at The Detroit News
