When former Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares announced he was leaving the company late last year, the automotive giant embarked on a campaign to find a replacement promising that one would be found as quickly as possible. Seasons have changed and plenty has transpired since then with the bulk of it centering around Stellantis announcing a fresh round of delays for the Ram REV 1500 and axing the base Charger R/T model due to slumping sales.
However, with summer now in full force, the company has announced it has named Antonio Filosa as its new CEO with Filosa being tasked with righting Stellantis’s sinking ship while also undoing some of the damage caused by Carlos Tavares and his aggressive cost-cutting policies.
Filosa brings plenty of experience
Before entering the CEO chair, Filosa first started his career in 1999 at Fiat with the exec leaving his mark in South America holding numerous managerial roles in both Brazil and Argentina including his appointment as Chief Operating Officer for FCA’s Latin America region in March 2018. Following the 2021 merger of the PSA Group and Fiat Chrysler to form Stellantis, Filosa was named COO of South America. It was during this period that the exec helped Jeep expand its presence inside Brazil with the South American nation eventually becoming the second-largest Jeep market outside the United States.
Filosa would be rewarded for this feat by being appointed Global CEO of Jeep in 2023 and later became COO for the Americas the following year. His extensive experience at Jeep will be a welcome blast of fresh air for dealers who have been bearing the brunt of recent struggles in sales for models like the Wrangler.
Will it be enough to save Stellantis?
When Antonio Filosa fully assumes his role he will have a long list of things to fix within the company. Stellantis sales have effectively collapsed with the brand seeing sales for many of its key products cratering last year. In addition to some of the problems we hinted at Jeep, other brands in the Stellantis portfolio have also been struggling. Chrysler has been limping along on life support with only two minivan models currently being offered while Ram and Dodge have struggled with high pricing and an exodus of sales as jilted buyers have left both brands in droves which was largely due to Stellantis axing the aging but highly popular Hemi V8 from many of its key selling vehicles.
Meanwhile, Maserati and Alfa Romeo have also been taking a beating in terms of sales with both brands also experiencing sales declines. Alfa Romeo for example was forced to backtrack from its plans of offering an all-electric lineup as it contends with lukewarm sales and a growing number of frustrated dealerships who are leaving the dealer network due to slow sales and the glacial pace that has come to dominate Alfa’s introduction of new models with the Giulia and Stelvio rapidly aging in the face of competition while the Tonale has proven to be anything but the shot in the sales arm Alfa needed.
With all of these struggles, Filosa will have to make some tough decisions to try and bring Stellantis back into profitability. Some of these could include cutting brands with Stellantis currently having 14 different brands for buyers to choose from. This is a massive amount of glut and it also creates a sizable drain on the company’s finances with the firm having to allocate precious financial resources to slow-selling brands instead of stronger-selling players in its umbrella. Chrysler, Alfa Romeo, and other slow sellers could be on the proverbial chopping block if he chooses to embark on this plan but time will only tell what he has in mind once he fully assumes his new duties.
Carl Malek has been an automotive journalist for over 10 years. First starting out as a freelance photographer before making the transition to writing during college, his work has appeared on numerous automotive forums as well as websites such as Autoshopper.com.
Carl is also a big fan of British vehicles with the bulk of his devotion going to the Morgan Motor Company as well as offerings from Lotus, MG, and Caterham. When he is not writing about automobiles, Carl enjoys spending time with his family and friends in the Metro Detroit area, as well as spending time with his adorable pets.