Automaker is stronger together amid $26 billion reset

DETROIT — Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa on Friday said the automaker plans to move forward as one company amid speculation that it would be better off selling brands or splitting up after disappointing results.

“Stellantis is a very strong global company that is very proud to have very deep regional groups,” Filosa, an Italian native, told reporters during a media call. “It makes all of sense to stay together. We want to stay together for many years to come.”

His comments come hours after the company announced 22 billion euros ($26 billion) in charges from a business restructuring that includes pulling back on electrification plans and reintroducing V8 engines to U.S. models. 

Filosa described the actions as an “important strategic reset of our business model, with the only intention to put our customer preferences back at the center of what we do globally and in each regions.” He said the “mission is to grow” after notable declines in market share in recent years.

As of 8:30 a.m. ET, shares of Stellantis were off more than 20% in Milan markets and in New York premarket trading.

Filosa on Friday did not specifically rule out the possibility of regionally refocusing or shrinking the company’s vast portfolio of 14 auto brands that includes U.S. brands Jeep, Ram and Chrysler, as well as Italian nameplates Fiat and Alfa Romeo, which have not performed well domestically.

“We want to really manage our brands in the sense to provide to them the products and the technology that our customers, that are now at the center of our strategic reset, will tell us that they want and they need,” he said. “This is our core mission.”

Filosa said additional information about the company’s plans moving forward will come at a May 21 investor day.

Friday’s announcement comes days after Stellantis executives met with the company’s U.S. franchised dealers at their annual National Automobile Dealers Association conference with a message that the automaker planned to grow sales across its U.S. lineup of brands, according to two dealers who attended the meeting.

The charges related to EVs follow General Motors and Ford Motor announcing billions of dollars in similar expenses due to pullbacks in plans for all-electric vehicles.

Shares of Ford and GM were not as impacted as much as Stellantis, which also issued a lower-than-expected guidance amid years of strategic problems with the company.

Stellantis said it anticipates a net loss for 2025. For 2026, the auto giant is targeting a mid-single-digit percentage increase in net revenue and a low-single-digit increase in its adjusted operating income margin.

“While charges were expected, the amount comes in above F ($19.5B) and GM ($7.6B). Expect shares to trade meaningfully lower today as a result. We continue to believe STLAM is a show-me-story. In the US, the company has lost substantial market share given high pricing and a perceived lack of product investment,” RBC Capital Markets analyst Tom Narayan said in a Friday investor note.

Filosa on Friday called out mistakes by former company leaders more than he has since he succeeded Carlos Tavares as CEO in June.

Tavares, who was ousted in December 2024 amid disagreements with the Stellantis board, in a book last year reportedly said that the group’s French, Italian and U.S. operations might have to be split amid pressure from its main stakeholders.

It’s been just over five years since Stellantis was created through a $52 billion combination of Italian American automaker Fiat Chrysler and France-based Groupe PSA on Jan. 16, 2021.

The merger formed the fourth-largest automaker by volume, but the company has run into significant problems in recent years amid its investments in all-electric vehicles, focus on profits over market share and cost-cutting efforts to the detriment of products.

Stellantis’ global sales under Tavares fell 12.3% from 6.5 million in 2021 — the year the company was formed — to 5.7 million in 2024. That included a roughly 27% collapse in the U.S. in that period to 1.3 million vehicles sold. The automaker dropped from fourth in U.S. sales to sixth, falling from an 11.6% market share to 8% during that time frame.

Stellantis’ global market share has fallen 8.1% in 2020 to an estimated 6.1% last year, according to S&P Global Mobility.