PARIS (Reuters) – Carlos Tavares, CEO of Stellantis since its creation, has resigned from his position, the car manufacturer born from the merger between PSA and FCA announced on Sunday, although he was only supposed to retire at the beginning 2026, at the end of his mandate.

“Stellantis NV announces that the company’s Board of Directors, meeting today under the chairmanship of John Elkann, has accepted the resignation of Carlos Tavares as CEO of Stellantis with immediate effect,” the group said in a press release, adding that he expected to find a new general director by next summer.

Until now one of the most respected leaders in the automobile industry, architect of the recovery of PSA and Opel, of the creation of Stellantis and accustomed to double-digit financial performances, Carlos Tavares found himself this year target of strong criticism for a sharp deterioration in the manufacturer’s operational performance in the United States.

This contributed to a dramatic warning about the group’s annual financial targets in the fall.

“The success of Stellantis since its creation has been based on perfect alignment between the key shareholders, the board of directors and the CEO. However, in recent weeks, different points of view have emerged, which has led the board to administration and the CEO to today’s decision”, explained Henri de Castries, senior independent director of Stellantis, quoted in the press release.

The group, which notably said it expected a cash hemorrhage of up to ten billion euros in 2024, confirmed on Sunday evening the annual objectives presented on October 31. He did not give details on the differences of opinion even though Carlos Tavares had initiated a recovery plan for North American activities last summer.

“The process of appointing the new permanent CEO, managed by a special committee of the board of directors, is on track and will be completed during the first half of 2025,” Stellantis added in its press release. “In the meantime, a new temporary executive committee, chaired by John Elkann, will be established.”

John Elkann is also CEO of Exor, the holding company of the Agnelli family, founder of Fiat, main shareholder of Stellantis, followed by the holding company of the Peugeot family, founder of PSA, and the French State via BPIfrance.

In the statement, the Stellantis president thanked Carlos Tavares for “his years of dedicated service and the role he played in the creation of Stellantis, complementing the turnarounds of PSA and Opel, putting us on the path to to become a global leader in our industry.”

The unexpected departure of Stellantis’ chief executive was first reported by Bloomberg.

“We knew that Carlos Tavares was in the hot seat (…) but we now need to find a more serene social climate (and) to restore strong stability in the teams, to ensure generational renewal and to stop the skills drain”, reacted Benoît Vernier, CFDT representative at Stellantis.

The group, whose stock has lost around 40% of its value since the start of the year, committed last week to production volumes for all its French sites until 2027. “These announcements must be maintained”, added Benoît Vernier after the announcement of the departure of Carlos Tavares.

(Zhifan Liu and Gilles Guillaume)

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