(Reuters) – Stellantis announced on Monday the appointment of Brazilian Joao Laranjo to the post of financial director, with immediate effect, following the unexpected resignation of his predecessor Doug Ostermann “for personal reasons”.

This new change in the management of the Franco-Italian automotive manufacturer comes about two months after the presentation by the director general Antonio Filosa of a new team put in battle order to try to straighten the group.

Antonio Filosa succeeded Carlos Tavares, one of the main architects of the PSA-FCA merger suddenly left at the end of 2024 after a spectacular deterioration in the financial performance of Stellantis.

Holder of an MBA from the 47 -year -old Ibmec business school, the new financial director Joao Laranjo joined Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) in 2009 as Chief Accounting Officer for Latin America, before becoming a financial director of the region, Stellantis said in a press release.

Leaving in 2024 with Goodyear as a vice president of finance, Joao Laranjo made his return in early 2025 to the group at the 14 brands as a financial director for North America in the new team of the director general Antonio Filosa.

In the first exchanges, the action of the Franco-Italian-American group lost more than 2% on the Milan Stock Exchange following the announcement of the resignation of Doug Ostermann, less than a year after his appointment. The title then started upwards and won 1.1% around 11:00 a.m. GMT.

“A surprise departure (…) which adds to the general feeling of instability and which may add to concerns about the extent of the efforts required to straighten the business,” comments Michaël Foundoukidis, analyst at Oddo-BHF, in a note.

“However, we remember that the group has reconfirmed (its financial calendar), as such the choice of an internal solution (…) should allow a easier transition.”

The automaker born from the merger between PSA and FCA confirmed its financial prospects for 2025, as communicated when it is published in the first half of its semester, stressing that they remain “unchanged in all respects”.

“Having worked in close collaboration with Joao for 15 years and attended his ascent, I have always been impressed by his acute sense of finance, his state of mind focused on the results and his deep understanding of the complexities of our sector,” said the director general of Stellantis, quoted in the press release.

Antonio Filosa has been working since early September at the overhaul of his strategic plan “Dare Forward 2030” which he had to present in early 2026.

(Written by Coralie Lamarque, with Gilles Guillaume in Paris and Giulio Piovaccari in Milan, edited by Augustin Turpin)

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