New Stellantis CEO faces slew of challenges, vows to avoid 'mediocrity'

CNBC

a day ago

DETROIT — "Mediocrity is not worth the trip."
That was part of incoming Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa's first public message after being named to lead the global automaker. It was a mantra decades in the making, as he spent 25 years climbing through the company's ranks, starting from a role as a night shift paint shop supervisor in Spain.
The quote also referenced late Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne, a mentor of Filosa's who's revered in the company. Marchionne unexpectedly died in 2018, years before the automaker merged to form Stellantis, the parent for brands such as Jeep, Ram, Fiat and Chrysler.
Several former and current Stellantis executives and employees who have worked with Filosa highlighted his connection to Marchionne when speaking with CNBC. They also described him as an engaging, collective leader who knows the business well, from the factory floors to C-suite offices, but who faces a slew of challenges and tests ahead.
As Filosa officially steps into the CEO role on Monday, he will need to channel Marchionne — viewed as a dynamic executive and thinker who saved Italian automaker Fiat and America's Chrysler — to be successful in turning around the embattled carmaker.
The most recent CEO, Carlos Tavares, who spearheaded the merger to form Stellantis, abruptly resigned in December amid disagreements with the company's board, yearslong sales declines and a 70% drop in net profit last year. He, like Marchionne, was considered a dynamic CEO by those inside and outside the company, but many thought he focused too much on cost cuts, to the detriment of the business.
In addition to financial issues, industry experts said Filosa will need to continue to mend bonds with dealers, politicians and employees that were damaged during Tavares' tenure. And he'll have to handle the company's investment plans between traditional vehicles and "electrified" models such as hybrids and EVs.
"We need to manage the transition, right? It's not a secret that electric vehicles will be [a] strong part of the future, right? Not only for Stellantis, but for the automotive industry itself," Filosa, then-Stellantis' head of the Americas, told reporters in January. "The pace and the speed, probably something that needs to be slightly reassessed."
Filosa, at that time, said it will be on the new CEO to decide the pace. He described the company's issues as "a multitask challenge" for whoever the board would appoint, which ultimately was him.
Filosa, a relatively young CEO at 51 years old, has hit the ground running since Tavares promoted him from Jeep's CEO to chief operating officer of Stellantis' Americas operations, where he prioritized mending strained bonds.
Employees were distraught over cuts and layoffs, while the company's franchised retailers were livid about Stellantis' sales and market share losses under Tavares. The Stellantis National Dealership council in September penned an unprecedented open letter condemning Tavares' actions.
"Your own distribution network, your dealer body, has been left in an anemic and diminished state," Kevin Farrish, a dealer in Virginia who led the council, wrote in the letter.
Michael Bettenhausen, a dealer in Illinois who succeeded Farrish, has spoken fondly of Filosa but said there is still a lot of work to get done.
"We need to mutually work together and dive into all the issues here in the North American operations, and we look forward to Antonio still being a part of those discussions," he said.
Stellantis' global sales under Tavares fell 12.3% from 6.5 million in 2021 — the year the company was formed — to 5.7 million in 2024. That included a roughly 27% collapse in the U.S. in that period to 1.3 million vehicles sold. The automaker dropped from fourth is U.S. sales to sixth, falling from an 11.6% market share to 8% during that timeframe.
Filosa — a native of Naples, Italy — said in January the top priority for the U.S. was to grow retail market share, which includes sales to customers as opposed to those to fleets or businesses.
"We need to do that. It's not a belief; it's a need," he said. "The U.S. retail market share really measures your ability to organically [grow sales]."
The automaker remains in a product dearth, bringing its overall sales down roughly 12% during the first quarter of this year compared with the same period a year earlier. The company declined to release its year-to-date retail sales.
But new products such as the upcoming redesigned Jeep Cherokee, additional Ram 1500 pickup truck models and a new gas-powered Dodge Charger are expected to boost sales, as well as the automaker's top line.
Stellantis' revenue has grown since the company was formed but plummeted 17.2% year-over-year in 2024 to 156.9 billion euros ($180.6 billion), while other automakers such as General Motors and Ford Motor saw notable increases in their top lines.
"Filosa steps into the CEO role amid significant challenges for the company," RBC Capital Markets analyst Tom Narayan wrote in a May 28 investor note. "His immediate priorities include revitalizing the company's performance in the US market, streamlining Stellantis' extensive 14-brand portfolio, and mending strained relationships with dealers, unions, and governments."
Filosa's appointment to CEO was viewed as a safe, "logical choice" for the automaker as it attempts to address its self-inflicted issues, as well as regulatory uncertainty such as tariffs and global economic concerns, according to industry insiders and observers.
"I think it's a logical, credible choice," Tavares told Bloomberg in late May in his first interview with international media since leaving the company. "Hopefully, he will be properly supported by the board. So let's see."
Since being announced as CEO on May 28, Filosa has visited many of the automaker's plants in the U.S., Canada and Europe. He was reportedly chosen following a six-month search that included other internal and external candidates.
His public comments regarding his new position have painted him as a humbled, grateful executive and father who takes pride in connecting with people.
"I am truly honored to be appointed CEO of this great company, Stellantis. It has been my home for 25 years. This place is in my blood," he said a May 28 LinkedIn post, referencing Marchionne.
A handful of current and former Stellantis executives described Filosa as an "engaging leader" and "listener" who's particularly at ease inside plants and speaking with employees — much like Marchionne.
"I've worked side-by-side with him. … We grew up under Sergio," Stellantis global head of design Ralph Gilles told CNBC. "He's a people person. He's a visionary, he's energized, he's young … and he's curious. He's a great listener. I love his problem-solving abilities, and for me, he loves design."
Marchionne would refer to his executives as "kids," many of whom, like Gilles and Filosa, he appointed to their first high-profile leadership positions. Others still with Stellantis include Ram CEO Tim Kuniskis and Chief Marketing Officer Olivier Francois.
"Antonio's awesome," Kuniskis, who unretired after a seven-month hiatus last year, told CNBC"He's one of the driving forces for me wanting to come back."
Stellantis CFO Douglas Ostermann earlier this month touted Filosa's background in manufacturing and building the company's Latin American business, which has remained a high profitability region for the company.
"He's a very kind of open leader that I think really works well with across the organization, across people, across brands, kind of a relationship builder," Ostermann said during a Bernstein event.
Upon Filosa's appointment, Bernstein analysts in an investor note described him as a "safe pair of hands" but a relatively uninspiring choice for investors compared with an outside hire such as ex-Apple CFO Luca Maestri, whom the company was reportedly considering.
"I think investors were quite excited about the prospect of bringing in somebody from the outside," Bernstein analyst Daniel Roeska told CNBC. "Not that there wasn't anybody inside, but after kind of such a big mix up, investors thought the idea of bringing something from the outside was a good one."
Filosa hasn't had much experience in such a high-profile role, unlike Marchionne and Tavares, who were battle-tested automotive veterans. He came up through the company's Latin American operations and has only served a short time in North America — its most crucial market. While Italian, he also has limited work time in Europe, the automaker's second most important region.
Two sources who agreed to speak on the condition on anonymity to be able to speak freely also said he's a nose to the grindstone leader who can be demanding at times, similar to his predecessors and other CEOs.
Filosa also will need to restore investor confidence, which both Marchionne and Tavares were at ease doing. Three sources, including two company insiders, said he doesn't yet have the CEO prowess like his predecessors, something that may come with experience.
UBS analyst Patrick Hummel noted in a financial note last month that Filosa's interaction with the financial community also has been "limited" to a capital markets day in June 2024.
Investors didn't react strongly to the CEO choice, based on the company's stock price. When Filosa was announced as CEO on May 28, U.S.-listed shares of the stock declined 3.2%. Since then, shares are off roughly 10% amid a litany of outside factors.
The daily stock decline is actually similar to when Marchionne made his "mediocrity" comments during the company's first investor day after combining Chrysler and Fiat to make "Fiat Chrysler Automobiles," or FCA, on May 6, 2014. Shares fell 3.9% that day.
Marchionne, a philosophy major who was known for his astute remarks, was discussing the challenges ahead for the automaker and changing automotive industry, including not chasing unprofitable businesses — which Filosa and Stellantis must continue to address.
"I told you this morning that our FCA culture responds better when it is confronted with purpose and with challenge," Marchionne said. "And our plan has purpose because when all is said and all is done, mediocrity is not worth the trip."