The car manufacturer Stellantis announced on the night of Thursday October 10 to Friday October 11 the retirement at the beginning of 2026 of its boss Carlos Tavares, as well as changes with immediate effect of several managers of the group. The group has notably appointed Doug Ostermann, until now director of operations in China, to the position of financial director where he will replace Natalie Knight. The latter, specifies Stellantis in a press release, will leave the group.
“In order to simplify and improve the performance of its organization in a turbulent global environment”, the Franco-Italian-American group has decided to make “targeted organizational changes which come into effect immediately within its management team”, specifies the press release. It is, he continues, “about refocusing the company on its main operational priorities and tackling with determination the global challenges facing the automotive sector”.
During a visit to the historic Peugeot factory in Sochaux (eastern France), Carlos Tavares indicated a week ago that he could retire in January 2026. “In 2026, the person who answers you will be 68, it’s a reasonable age to retire. That’s the option,” the Portuguese boss told journalists.
The group indicated in its press release that the process of identifying his successor at the end of his mandate, in January 2026, was now formally launched. It has been entrusted to a special committee of the board of directors chaired by John Elkann, which is expected to complete its work in the fourth quarter of 2025.
Difficult pass
Stellantis was formed from the merger in 2021 of Peugeot-Citroën and Fiat-Chrysler. In electronic trading after the markets closed, Stellantis shares rose 0.36% on the New York Stock Exchange. The group with fifteen brands is going through a difficult time. At the end of September, it announced a clear downward revision of its operating margin objective, now estimated between 5.5% and 7%, compared to “two figures” previously, for the year 2024. Stellantis, which also produces Chrysler that of Citroën, Fiat, Jeep, Dodge, Lancia, Opel, Peugeot, Ram or Vauxhall, published in July a sharp fall in first-half results, handicapped in particular by an 18% drop in sales in North America, the machine to the group’s cash. And, in the third quarter, they fell by another 20% year-on-year in North America.
Before leading the creation of Stellantis in January 2021, Carlos Tavares became head of the PSA board in March 2014, only two months after joining the group. He came from Renault (2011-2013), where he began his career in 1981 but left for Nissan in 2004.