Stellantis Dealers Blame CEO for the 'Disaster'

Carlos Tavares was named CEO and Chairman of Group PSA in 2014. When the French conglomerate merged with Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles in 2021, he became the first CEO of Stellantis. But American dealers aren't exactly thrilled with how the 66-year-old Portuguese businessman is steering the ship.

In an open letter to Tavares, the US Stellantis National Dealer Council accused the CEO of leading the world's fourth-largest automaker toward a "disaster." Dealers are particularly unhappy with how the head honcho banked nearly $40 million last year. In addition, the big boss is criticized for causing the "rapid degradation" of Jeep, Ram, Dodge, and Chrysler.

Jeep sales fell 9% in the first half of 2024 while Ram dropped by 26%. Chrysler suffered an 8% decline while Dodge was down by 16%. Fiat was up 67% but that sounds better than it actually is since the Italian brand only sold 316 cars in the US through June. As for Alfa Romeo, deliveries rose by 2%.

Available in PDF format and dated September 10, the open letter highlights the huge concerns dealers in the United States have about where Stellantis is heading:

"The market share of your brands has been slashed nearly in half, Stellantis stock price is tumbling, plants are closing, layoffs are rampant, and key executives fleeing the company. Investor lawsuits, supplier lawsuits, strikes–the fallout is mounting. Your own distribution network, your dealer body, has been left in an anemic and diminished state."

Stellantis has already issued a response:

"At Stellantis, we don’t believe that public personal attacks, such as the one in the open letter from the NDC president against our CEO, are the most effective way to solve problems. We have started a path that will prove successful. We will continue to work with our dealers to avoid any public disputes that will delay our ability to deliver results."

But not everything is gloom and doom at Stellantis. This week, it announced plans to invest $406 million at three Michigan plants to build electric vehicles alongside their combustion-powered counterparts. One of the factories is Sterling Heights where Tavares recently said that too many trucks need repairs right after leaving the assembly line.

For more good news, none of the 14 brands underneath the corporate umbrella will be axed. Although Tavares said in July that unprofitable automakers would be eliminated, a subsequent official statement from Stellantis reiterated the company is sticking with its original plan announced in 2021.

When the automotive juggernaut was created in early 2021, Tavares pledged to pour money into all brands for 10 years. That means struggling brands such as Chrysler in the US as well as Lancia and DS Automobiles in Europe should be safe until at least the end of the decade.

Stellantis appears to be making efforts to boost quality, so much so that the Wagoneer S could be delayed until the first Jeep EV for America delivers "perfect quality."

US dealers want Tavares to make the right decisions so that Stellantis can regain the lost market share and fully utilize the available production capacity. How? By getting "your employees, our employees, and your suppliers' employees back to work by building and selling cars that Americans want to buy and can afford."

The US Stellantis National Dealer Council says it saw this unfortunate situation coming and "has been sounding this alarm" to the executive team for more than two years. They accuse the CEO of setting a course that "was going to be a disaster in the long run. A disaster not just for us, but for everyone involved–and now, that disaster has arrived."

Stellantis' rival Volkswagen Group is also going through difficult times. Finance boss, Dr. Arno Antlitz, said last week that the company has "one, maybe two" years to turn things around.