Carlos Tavares, the former CEO of struggling auto giant Stellantis, could be forgiven for wondering what he could have done differently as he spends his Christmas out of a job.
Tavares left his role as Stellantis chief executive in November after it became clear there were irreconcilable differences between his and the board’s vision for turning around the automaker’s fortunes. Tavares was previously set to retire in 2026.
However, despite assumptions that Tavares was ousted, the Portuguese boss said it was a mutual decision to “protect the company.”
Tavares stands firm
“No, not at all.”
That was Tavares’s response in an interview with Portuguese newspaper Expresso when asked if he felt hurt by his premature departure from Stellantis. He added that he wouldn’t have acted differently with hindsight.
Indeed, in his interview with Expresso, Tavares said his departure from Stellantis was a mutual decision between himself and the board.
“A company that has 250,000 employees, revenues of €190 billion, 15 brands that it sells all over the world, is not a company that can be managed with a lack of alignment—which immediately has an impact on strategic management,” said Tavares.
“When you’re facing a storm, you have to steer the boat according to the waves. You can’t have a discussion about the best way to face them.”
Since his resignation, execs and partner dealers have lined up to trash Tavares’s legacy. There was speculation that Tavares wanted to focus on cost-cutting and short-term profit margin goals to save his reputation before he retired.
Stellantis execs who spoke to CNBC off the record painted Tavares as a stubborn figure who was laser-focused on cost-cutting against the wishes of several leaders at the group.
“If you think you know everything, you’re not going to listen to anybody else,” an unnamed source told CNBC. They added that the pressure to cut costs felt like having a pistol “to your head.”
Stellantis and Tavares received harsh criticism from dealers in the U.S. after raising prices, which alienated its customer base. Research group Bernstein accused Stellantis of having a “misplaced belief in its own pricing power.”
Speaking to Reuters, Kevin Farrish, leader of Stellantis’s dealer council, said he spoke with the group’s chairman, John Elkann, to find a way to repair the carmaker’s relationship with dealers.
“We have a ton of opportunities to fix what Mr. Tavares harmed.”
In June, Tavares admitted that his arrogance contributed to the automaker’s struggles in the U.S., as it watched its market share in the country fall below double digits.
Under Elkann, Stellantis is pivoting to appease its customer base in the U.S., where it sells the Ram and Jeep brands. The billionaire heir to the Agnelli family hopes to roll out a board-aligned strategy focused on long-term goals.
The carmaker said it would rejoin Europe’s automaker lobbying group ACEA, while it is holding discussions with the Italian government to focus on a long-term solution to its struggles in the country.
