Automaker CEO Resigns, Citing ‘Different Views’

The CEO of Stellantis, Carlos Tavares, has decided to call it a day.  

Stellantis is currently the fourth largest automobile manufacturer in the world, behind only Toyota, Volkswagen, and Hyundai.  

Tavares cited “different views” as his reason, but this could be because he feared possible tariffs by Trump for outsourcing manufacturing.  

Time to Go 

Stellantis manufactures Jeep, among other brands.  

Over the last few years, Tavares has seen sales plummet, and the future could be even worse as the manufacturer looks to outsource more production to its Mexican plants.  

I say this because Trump has made it quite clear that he plans on resoting American manufacturing jobs by imposing tariffs on products imported that could easily be made here in the United States.  

Tavaras has been the CEO of Stellantis since 2021, when the company was formed as a part of a major merger between the PSA Group and Fiat Chrysler.  

Upon his resignation, Stellantis stated, “Stellantis’ success since its creation has been rooted in a perfect alignment between the reference shareholders, the Board and the CEO. 

“However, in recent weeks different views have emerged which have resulted in the Board and the CEO coming to today’s decision.” 

For his part, Tavaras owned the sinking sales, having stated, “When I am saying we were arrogant, I’m talking about myself, nobody else.  

“I’m talking about the fact that I should have acted immediately, recognizing that the convergence of those three problems was there, and we had to set up a task force to address them.” 

When Trump announced that he had planned to impose tariffs of 25% against Mexico and Canada, shares of Stellantis fell by 4%, but the company was not alone. 

Shares of General Motors fell by a whopping 7% on the same day.  

To me, this was Tavaras seeing the writing on the wall, as the company has four major production plants in Mexico, so Trump’s plan would significantly impact sales.