Sterantis Announces CEO Carlos Tavares' Retirement in 2026

Sterantis confirmed Thursday that CEO Carlos Tavares will step down in early 2026, when his current contract expires.

The company announced in September that it was already looking for Tavares' replacement, but said at the time that a renewal of Tavares' contract was still under consideration.

The announcement of Tavares' planned departure from Sterantis follows a board meeting this week at which several changes were made to the company's leadership. The changes were made as Sterantis struggles to rebuild its steep losses in North America.

Key among the leadership changes were the replacement of Chief Financial Officer Natalie Knight with Doug Osterman and the replacement of North American Chief Operating Officer Carlos Zarlenga with Antonio Filosa. According to Sterantis, Knight is leaving the company and Zarlenga is moving to another position. Filosa is currently the head of Jeep and will retain that position to lead the North American division.

Tavares has been CEO of Sterantis since the merger of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and the French PSA Group in 2021 to form Sterantis. He succeeded in improving efficiencies at the company's 14 brands shortly after the merger, but came under fire this year after Sterantis reported in July that its net income fell 48% from a year earlier.

The poor performance prompted Sterantis to revise its 2024 profit outlook downward and hinted at the possibility of scaling back its generous dividend and share buyback program, Reuters reported on October 3.

The main reason for the poor performance is declining sales in the U.S. Dealers are also angry at some of the strategies Tavares has been implementing. Many of their complaints are contained in an open letter to Tavares published in August by the Sterantis National Dealer Council. The letter included complaints about “reckless short-term decision-making” to secure record profits in 2023 and the “rapid deterioration” of Sterantis' U.S. brands, including Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, and Ram.

Stellantis responded to the letter in September, stating that it had developed a plan with dealer associations to boost sales and reduce inventory; Stellantis has also initiated several cost-cutting measures, and Tavares in July dropped out if some brands continued to underperform warned that they could.