Stellantis overhauls leadership, including in North America and Europe

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Stellantis NV on Thursday announced a leadership overhaul amid recent financial and sales struggles, including new chief operating officers for North America and Europe and a new chief financial officer, among other moves.

For North America, Stellantis said current Jeep CEO Antonio Filosa will add chief operating officer for the region to his responsibilities. Filosa, who was already relatively new to the Jeep post, replaces Carlos Zarlenga, who had only taken the COO job at the start of this year. Zarlenga's next position with the company "will be subject to a further announcement," the company said.

Doug Ostermann will take over as chief financial officer from Natalie Knight, who is departing the company after joining Stellantis in July 2023. Ostermann was previously the company's China chief operating officer and has other experience in the industry, the carmaker said.

Other moves include Jean Philippe Imparato taking over as chief operating officer for the automaker's European region, which will come in addition to his duties overseeing Pro One, the Stellantis commercial vehicle division. Uwe Hochgeschurtz, who has had that European role, is leaving the company.

Meanwhile, Gregoire Olivier will take the new opening as China COO while remaining a liaison to Leapmotor, the Chinese automaker that Stellantis has partnered with to produce cheaper electric vehicles.

Other changes include a new CEO for the Maserati and Alfa Romeo brands, Santo Ficili. A new position for the current leader, Davide Grasso, will be announced later, the company said.

Stellantis had not indicated a shakeup was imminent, but it is not entirely a surprise, given the carmaker's struggles this year — with sales sputtering across multiple regions, particularly in its largest profit engine, the U.S. market.

It has faced growing pressure in recent weeks from multiple stakeholder groups, both in the U.S. and abroad, including the United Auto Workers, worried about investments in U.S. plants, and Stellantis dealers, who have struggled with large build-ups of inventory.

Last week the company lowered its financial guidance this year to an adjusted operating income margin of 5.5% to 7%, down from double digits.

A board of directors meeting had been scheduled in the U.S. this week. And Bloomberg reported Wednesday that CEO Carlos Tavares was plotting a management reshuffling, in response to the recent profit warning. Tavares himself has come under fire from dealers and the UAW, among others, who are questioning his leadership and decisions, including not acting faster to address inventory and other challenges.

Stellantis recently confirmed it's started a CEO search process for when Tavares' term is up in early 2026, though it has been described as routine planning. The company added Thursday that Tavares would be retiring when his term is up, and that a special committee of the board of directors plans to finish its search by the fourth quarter of 2025.

“During this Darwinian period for the automotive industry, our duty and ethical responsibility is to adapt and prepare ourselves for the future, better and faster than our competitors to deliver clean, safe and affordable mobility," Tavares said in a Thursday statement with the leadership announcements. "The newly appointed leadership team members will make their valuable contributions to our overall team’s determination to tackle the challenges ahead, reinforcing and accelerating our transformation to become the preferred mobility tech company."

John Elkann, chairman of the Stellantis board, said in a statement that there had been "unanimous" board support for the leadership changes, and for Tavares. He said he believed the changes would help strengthen the team as it works to "restore the company's performance to industry leading levels."

lramseth@detroitnews.com

@lramseth

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