2025 will not be an easy year for Stellantis as for the entire automotive industry. For the Italian-French group there are two issues to resolve: the appointment of the new CEO who will take the place of Carlos Tavares and the launch of the “Italy plan”, presented to the Ministry of Business and Made in Italy last December 17 with 2 billion euros of investments within the year. Naturally, these are not the only issues: the future of the Gigafactory in Termoli, in Molise, remains to be clarified, the construction times of which by the Acc joint venture will be defined in the first half of the year, and the heavy use of layoffs in the factories in starting from Mirafiori, where the workers of the 500 electric and Maserati lines will remain at home until January 17th. Then there is the sword of Damocles, common to all manufacturers, of heavy fines to be paid to Europe for those who exceed the new limit set by Brussels on the average CO2 emissions of cars: on this front Stellantis has decided with the return to European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) to join forces with other car manufacturers.
The new CEO will arrive by mid-2025. Since December 1st, when Tavares resigned, the reins of Stellantis have been held by the interim Executive Committee chaired by John Elkann, while in Italy Jean-Philippe has assumed a leading role Learned, European head of the group. In reality, the search for the new CEO was already underway since the Portuguese manager would have left the company in 2026 anyway. The totonomi that goes around in the financial world has not found any confirmation for now: there has been talk of international managers such as Luca de Meo and Mary Barra, but also ‘interns such asimpresa, Maxime Picat, director of purchasing and former head of European activities, and the Italian-Brazilian Antonio Filosa, head of Jeep and recently director of activities in North America. In the meantime, the Italian plan will start with the new models. The new Alfa Romeo Stelvio will be produced in Cassino from 2025, while the new Ds 8 and the new Jeep Compass will arrive in Melfi.
At Mirafiori, however, the 500 hybrid is expected in November. There are many new Stellantis models arriving this year, all electrified. The Grande Panda will be marketed, which will be tested on the road for the first time in Turin at the end of January, the Opel Frontera, the Opel Grandland, the Peugeot 408, the Citroen C3 and C5 Aircross, the Leapomotor C10 Reev and B10, the Lancia Hf . On February 26th Stellantis will release the results for 2024, while between February and March President John Elkann is expected in Parliament for a discussion on the evolution of the automotive sector in Europe and Italy. Among the problems to be faced is also that of relaunching sales on the North American market. In October the manager Carlos Zarlenga was replaced together with the financial director Natalie Knight. While waiting for the new CEO, it is significant that one of the key men after Tavares is Richard Palmer, recalled by President John Elkann as his special advisor outside the interim Executive Committee. Palmer, who had already ended up among the eligible candidates after the death of Sergio Marchionne, left the group in July 2023 and also entered the list of successors to the Portuguese manager.