Carlos Tavares used to be the golden boy of the car world. People called him a "miracle worker" for what he did at PSA and Opel. But then, things got messy.
By late 2024, the narrative shifted. Fast.
If you're looking for the current Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares, you actually won't find him in the corner office anymore. He resigned abruptly in December 2024, a full year before his contract was supposed to end. It was a shocker. One day he was the architect of a 14-brand empire, and the next, he was out.
Honestly, the fallout was pretty dramatic.
The Rise and Sudden Fall of Carlos Tavares
Tavares didn't just stumble into the top spot. He earned a reputation as a ruthless efficiency expert. He took Peugeot and Citroën—brands that were basically on life support—and made them profitable. Then he did the same with Opel, which General Motors had been losing money on for decades.
When Fiat Chrysler and PSA merged to create Stellantis in 2021, Tavares was the only logical choice to lead. He promised massive "synergies." That’s corporate speak for saving billions by sharing parts and cutting jobs.
It worked. For a while.
In 2023, Stellantis was raking in record profits. But underneath the hood, the engine was starting to smoke. By the time 2024 rolled around, sales in North America—the company's literal cash cow—started cratering.
Why the Board Lost Faith
Why did the board suddenly push him out? It wasn't just one thing. It was a pile-up.
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- Bloated Inventory: U.S. dealers were screaming. They had lots full of expensive Jeeps and Rams that nobody was buying.
- Pricing Strategy: Tavares pushed for high margins. He wanted to sell fewer cars at higher prices. But in a high-interest-rate world, customers just walked away.
- The "Short-Term" Trap: Board members, specifically Chairman John Elkann, reportedly felt Tavares was focusing too much on immediate fixes to save his own reputation rather than the long-term health of the brands.
There’s this quote from Tavares right before he left that kind of sums up his mindset. He basically said he wasn't a magician and that he was being asked to solve "chaos" created by others. That kind of talk doesn't usually sit well with a board of directors.
The Succession: Enter Antonio Filosa
As of early 2026, the man in charge is Antonio Filosa.
Filosa took over officially in June 2025 after a six-month search. He’s a company veteran who spent a lot of time fixing the South American market. If Tavares was the "cost-cutter," Filosa is being framed as the "stabilizer."
The difference in style is already pretty obvious. While Tavares was known for a top-down, rigid approach, Filosa is trying to empower regional managers. He's basically trying to un-break what the aggressive centralization might have damaged.
He inherited a bit of a mess, though.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Tavares Era
You’ll hear people say Tavares "ruined" Chrysler or Dodge. That’s a bit of an oversimplification.
The reality is that Tavares was obsessed with the transition to EVs. He committed billions to the "Dare Forward 2030" plan. He wanted 50% of U.S. sales to be electric by the end of the decade. But the market didn't move as fast as his spreadsheets did.
People stopped wanting $70,000 electric SUVs. They wanted affordable hybrids.
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Tavares was slow to pivot. He was so focused on the 2030 goal that he let the 2024 reality slip through his fingers.
The Dealer Revolt
One of the most telling signs of the end was an open letter from the National Dealer Council. They accused him of "reckless short-term decision-making."
When your own sales force publicly turns on you, you're usually on borrowed time. They claimed he was "degrading" the American brands to juice the stock price. The stock price, by the way, ended up dropping about 40% in his final year.
Ouch.
Key Takeaways for Investors and Industry Watchers
If you're tracking the legacy of Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares, here is the ground-floor reality of where things stand now in 2026.
1. The "Brand Cull" is on Hold
Tavares famously threatened to kill off brands that weren't making money. Maserati and Alfa Romeo were looking nervous. Under the new leadership of Filosa, that talk has cooled off. The goal now is to fix the brands, not bury them.
2. Pragmatism Over Ideology
The rigid 2030 EV targets are being "re-evaluated." You'll see a lot more focus on "multi-energy" platforms. That's just a fancy way of saying they’ll build whatever the customer actually wants to buy—be it gas, hybrid, or electric.
3. North American Recovery is Priority One
Stellantis lives and dies by Jeep and Ram. If those two don't get back to their former glory, the whole 14-brand house of cards is at risk. Filosa has been spending a lot of time in Michigan for a reason.
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4. The End of the "One Size Fits All" Strategy
The Tavares era was about extreme centralization. The 2026 era is about regional autonomy. It turns out what works for a Fiat in Italy doesn't always work for a Ram 1500 in Texas.
Moving Forward After the Tavares Resignation
Looking back, Carlos Tavares will likely be remembered as the man who successfully built the fourth-largest automaker in the world but couldn't figure out how to run it once the honeymoon phase ended. He was a brilliant architect but a polarizing landlord.
For the company, the "post-Tavares" era is a return to basics.
If you're an investor, the metric to watch isn't "cost savings" anymore—it’s market share. If Stellantis can’t stop the bleeding in its U.S. showrooms, it won't matter how many billions they saved on shared door handles.
The transition is far from over. Antonio Filosa has a massive job ahead of him, and the ghost of the Tavares cost-cutting era still haunts some of the factories. But the strategy has shifted from survival by subtraction to growth by listening.
Whether it's enough to save the 14-brand experiment remains the biggest question in the auto industry today.
Next Steps for Tracking Stellantis Leadership:
- Watch the Q1 2026 Earnings: This will be the first "clean" look at how Filosa's strategy is impacting the bottom line without the noise of the Tavares resignation.
- Monitor U.S. Inventory Levels: Keep an eye on "days of supply" reports for Jeep and Ram. If these numbers drop below 60 days, the stabilization is working.
- Track Hybrid Launches: Look for the rollout of more plug-in hybrid (PHEV) variants of core American models, which is the cornerstone of the new "pragmatic" product plan.