(BFM Stock Exchange) – The 51 -year -old Italian was appointed this car manufacturer’s head on Wednesday, May 28, the action of which was divided by more than two in a year. Time will say if this ex-protection of Sergio Marchionne was the man of the situation. But the first analysts’ reactions are rather encouraging.

The long conclave of Stellantis finally led to white smoke. Antonio Filosa, a 51 -year -old Italian who has worked for 26 years with the manufacturer (he joined Fiat in 1999), was appointed director general of the automaker born in 2021 of the merger between Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot SA.

He succeeds Carlos Tavares, who had resigned from his post six months ago, in a resounding manner. John Elkann, chairman of the board of directors of Stellantis and heir to the Agnelli family, who owns 15.5% of the capital of Stellantis, had given himself until the end of June to find a successor to the emblematic Portuguese leader. Promise held, therefore.

Originally from Naples, Antonio Filosa has held various positions at Stellantis, notably that of director general of the Jeep brand, director of operations in Latin America, and, since the end of 2024, director of the Americas (from the North and the South, therefore).

Is it the right pick to straighten Stellantis, a group that saw its stock market course 56% over a year and its current operating margin go from 12.8% in 2023 to 5.5% last year?

In the immediate future, the Stellantis action does not react hardly to the Paris Stock Exchange, backing from 0.5% to around 4 p.m., a harmless movement. Several press articles had appointed him as a favorite to take the post of managing director. So there is no surprise.

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The choice of internal, unlike Ferrari

The manager will obviously have to tame a market that does not necessarily know him very well, analysts being more used to exchanging with the general and financial directors. “For the time being, the interaction of Mr. Filosa with the financial community was limited to the day dedicated to investors (de Stellantis, editor’s note) of last year,” wrote UBS this Wednesday.

Bernstein believes that certain investors can be disappointed by the fact that Stellantis has chosen an internal candidate rather than external, to turn the page of the Tavare era. Press information had previously reported that the company was thinking of choosing Luca Maestri, a former Apple financial director, which had been denied by the manufacturer, however.

The market had in mind the example of Benedetto Vigna at Ferrari. The Agnelli family is also a reference shareholder of the Italian manufacturer via its Exor holding. In 2021, Ferrari, under the leadership of John Elkann, had appointed this leader who was then foreign to the world of the automobile, Benedetto Vignon previously occupying the head of a division of the group of semiconductors Stmicroelectronics. This surprising appointment had been a success, the Italian having brought Ferrari to unsuspected peaks.

But the situation is different at Stellantis. “Named an external leader would have formed a too risky bet in view of the group’s situation, Filosa has the advantage of already having your hands in the cabus. With an ‘outsider it would have been time to see the extent of the damage when it is ready immediately and knows what are the problems,” explains an analyst in the sector.

The latter rather positively judges his actions spent with the group. “It is a ‘Car Guy’ who knows the sector well which has made a recovery in Latin America, a very profitable region (last year, South America released a current operational margin of 14.3% and was the region which resisted the best within Stellantis, editor’s note) and well developed the Jeep brand, perhaps the only one that works almost everywhere at Stellantis. His appointment is rather reassuring, “continues this analyst.

A ‘Car Guy’ facing a Herculean project

“Latin America has remained a high profitability region for Stellantis, despite the difficulties encountered by the group in North America and Europe. This has enabled Filosa to take a step back from Carlos Tavares’ failed strategy, abounds Bernstein, in a note published this Wednesday.

Putting the Italian-Franco-American group from a square will obviously have nothing of a sinecure. Plusted by high stocks in the United States that the group reduced in pain on the end of last year, Stellantis lost market share in the last quarters and has launched new products qualified as “difficult” by Oddo BHF. This logically resulted in a plunge of its revenues of 17% last year. Philippe Houchois, analyst at Jefferies, also argued in John Elkann, at the start of the year, that the company’s market share “were quite awful”. Regaining market share was a “critical for confidence” stake of investors, he warned.

“It will be worth delivering, it will not be a health ride. Stellantis must find the ‘good triangle’ between market share, price and stocks, while straightening the situation in North America,” said the previously quoted anonymous analyst.

One of Sergio Marchionne’s “kids”

These operational difficulties overlap the uncertainties and damage caused by American customs duties, both on Canada and Mexico (American manufacturers sell a lot of vehicles in the United States produced in these two countries and imports in addition to components), and on automobile imports and parts. Stellantis suspended its annual objectives last month due to these customs surcharges.

Last week, Bernstein calculated an impact on the operating profit of 1.8 billion euros linked to customs duties for the company, certainly much less than for General Motors ($ 7.3 billion according to the calculations of the financial intermediary).

Antonio Filosa has certain advantages to meet the challenges of the company. Customs surcharges and geopolitical tensions require a managing director who knows Stellantis deeply, notes Bernstein. Which is, therefore, his case.

“Antonio Filosa also provides in -depth knowledge of the American market, which the group of group dealers has always accused of Carlos Tavares by ignoring their legitimate concerns,” explains Bernstein. “We understand that Antonio Filosa is already spending a lot of time meeting the dealers to restore confidence with them when there is still a lot to do,” continues the financial intermediary.

Oddo BHF noted in December that Carlos Tavares had a systematic conflictual approach with “all stakeholders (employees, unions, dealers, equipment manufacturers, investors, governments, etc.)” of the group.

Another element in his favor: his proximity to Sergio Marchionne, the emblematic ex-boss of Fiat Chrysler, who died in 2018, and who was loved by investors. “This was a big automotive boss!”, Roked a veteran from the sector a few years ago from News Bulletin 247e.

“In the 2010s, Sergio Marchionne, the highly appreciated managing director of Fiat Chrysler, used to qualify his (young) management team of his kids’ and Antonio Filosa was part of this group of hungry and effective managers trained by Sergio Marchionne”, recalls Bernstein.

In the end, “Antonio Filosa is considered a ‘Safe Pair of Hands’ (a safe, editor’s note) and is sufficiently young at 51 to have a long -term impact on the development of the group”, concludes the financial intermediary.