Factbox: As CEO Tavares leaves Stellantis, market speculates on successor

AutoNation

02/12/2024 18:43

MILAN, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Carlos Tavares abruptly
resigned on Sunday as CEO of Stellantis  STLAM.MI , two months
after a profit warning, and the carmaker said it would seek to
appoint a permanent successor in the first half of next year. 
    The Stellantis board is considering the head of North
American operations Antonio Filosa and procurement Chief Maxime
Picat as internal candidates for the CEO position, a source
close to the matter said on Monday. The board is also
considering external candidates, the source said.
    In the meantime the maker of brands including Jeep, Ram,
Fiat and Peugeot, will be run by a newly-established Interim
Executive Committee, headed by the group's Chairman John Elkann.
    International press and sources have flagged the following
as among possible candidates to succeed Tavares:
        
  
        
  
    MAXIME PICAT
    Picat, currently Stellantis' chief purchasing and supplier
quality officer, previously served as COO for the 'Enlarged
Europe' region when the group was created in January 2021. The
50-year-old French civil engineer joined Peugeot maker PSA in
1998, where he held different positions, including managing
director of the DongFeng Peugeot Citroen Automobiles (DPCA)
joint venture in China. He was one of the young managers
developed by Carlos Tavares at PSA.
        
  
        ANTONIO FILOSA
    Filosa was made COO of Stellantis' key North American market
in October, as part of a top management reshuffle that followed
the group's profit warning. Filosa, an Italian national, joined
Fiat Group in 1999 and worked in several roles, especially in
Latin America, becoming Fiat Chrysler chief in the region from
2018. He then served as Stellantis COO for South America before
being appointed global head of the Jeep brand in 2023, a role he
retains.
        
  
        JEAN-PHILIPPE IMPARATO
    The 58-year-old Frenchman is a former brands chief at
Peugeot and at Alfa Romeo who was promoted in October to be COO
of the Enlarged Europe region at Stellantis. Imparato is
regarded as close to Tavares and during the recent Paris Auto
Show dismissed speculation about him getting the CEO role: "I
have neither the expertise, nor the ambition, to do that job,"
he said. A fluent Italian speaker, he also heads Stellantis'
lucrative commercial vehicle unit Pro One. 
        
  
    LUCA DE MEO
    Renault's  RENA.PA  CEO has previously held top roles at
Fiat Chrysler (FCA) under Sergio Marchionne and at Volkswagen,
where he also headed the Seat brand. An Italian national, De
Meo, 57, was appointed Renault CEO in 2020 and completed the
French automaker's turnaround. A move to Stellantis might also
be part of an eventual merger with Renault, which has been at
the centre of market speculation in recent months. Renault just
renewed De Meo's CEO mandate for another four years. 
    
    DOUG OSTERMANN
    The American national was appointed Stellantis Chief
Financial officer in October, after serving in different roles
for the group in China, including as chief operating officer
(COO) for the region, where he had a key role in striking a wide
cooperation agreement with local automaker Leapmotor. Ostermann
joined former Fiat Chrysler in 2016 as group treasurer.

    MIKE MANLEY
    The British-born former CEO of Fiat Chrysler, who succeeded
Sergio Marchionne in 2018 and led the Italian American automaker
into the merger with PSA, is now head of the U.S. largest auto
retailer AutoNation Inc. Manley ran FCA's U.S. operations under
Marchionne and is very familiar with Stellantis' American
brands, all inherited from FCA. He left Stellantis in late 2021
after briefly serving as head of Americas for the newly-created
group. 
    
    RICHARD PALMER
    The highly respected Stellantis former CFO, who left the
group in 2023, was appointed special adviser to Chairman Elkann
on Monday and will attend the newly created Interim Executive
Committee. Palmer had previously served as CFO at Fiat and
Chrysler for 15 years.
    
    JOSE MUNOZ
    A Spanish native and a U.S. citizen, Munoz was appointed
Hyundai Motor's CEO last month after serving as COO at the South
Korean automaker since 2019 and being credited with record North
American sales. He previously worked for Asian automakers
Nissan, Toyota and Daewoo, after starting at Citroen in 1989. 
    
    TECH EXECUTIVE
    Stellantis Chairman Elkann could also consider a tech
industry executive for the top job at the French Italian
automaker, Italian daily Il Giornale said on Monday, although it
said Elkann was leaning towards an internal candidate. The
choice of a tech executive would highlight the increasing
emphasis the auto industry is putting on software and
technology. In 2021, Elkann picked Benedetto Vigna, an executive
at chipmaker STMicroelectronics, to head sports carmaker
Ferrari.
    
    EDOUARD PEUGEOT
    A ninth generation representative of France's Peugeot
family, he's the son of Stellantis board member board Robert
Peugeot. He has just been nominated to succeed his father as
chairman of the family holding. A source close to the family,
however, denied he would be running for the Stellantis CEO job.
     
     

 (Reporting by Giulio Piovaccari in Milan, Nora Eckert in
Detroit, Gilles Guillaume in Paris and Nick Carey in London;
writing by Giulio Piovaccari; editing by Susan Fenton)
 ((giulio.piovaccari@thomsonreuters.com))