Stellantis: History and legacy of automobile manufacturers
We explore the history of Stellantis, the automotive giant formed in 2021 through the merger of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and PSA Group.
- Antonio Firosa will be at the helm of economic instability in the US automotive market and declining revenues.
- Filosa aims to expand Stellantis’ presence in the largest market, the US.
Stellantis appointed Antonio Filosa as the second CEO in the company’s history, taking over the carmaker’s chaos a year later.
Filosa, 51, from Naples, Italy, has been an executive at the company since the formation of Stellantis in 2021, when Fiat Chrysler cars merged with Peugeot maker PSA Group. Filosa’s relationship with the company dates back to 1999, when he started with Fiat in 1999. He later served as CEO of the Jeep brand.
Recently, Filosa’s responsibility at Stellantis has increased. While serving as Chief Operating Officer for the Americas, he took on the role of Chief Quality Officer that he envisioned in February 2025. Now he leads the world’s fourth largest automaker and oversees the full lineup of Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Citroen, Dodge, ds autorati, fiedge, fiedge, fiedge, dodge, chrysler, chrysler, chryslers, Ram, Lancia and Vauxhall.
When he was South America’s Chief Operating Officer, Brazil became the second largest volume market for jeep vehicles.
Filosa will take leadership in the US automotive market faces severe economic instability. Earlier this year, Stellantis announced it would suspend its financial guidance for 2025 and cite “custom-related uncertainty.” In its latest revenue report, Stellantis reduced its revenue by 14% in the first quarter of 2025. We talked about the same thing the previous year. In 2024, Stellantis had a 70% decrease in net profit compared to 2023.
Sales in 2024 fell 15% compared to the previous year, with the company in April reporting that sales in the first quarter of this year fell 12% from the same period last year.
Over the past 12 months, Stellantis shares have lost half of their value, closing on Tuesday at $10.44.
Recently, Filosa has expressed interest in driving the growth of Stellantis vehicles in the US.
“For the US, the US is the largest market and Stellantis has the privilege of operating. That’s its biggest priority,” Filosa told the Free Press at the Detroit Auto Show in January.
According to data from the end of 2024, Stellantis currently employs around 34,000 people in Michigan, 75,000 people nationwide and 248,000 people worldwide.
On June 23rd, Firosa officially begins his role and announces his executive team.
Sam Fiorani, Vice President of Global Vehicle Forecast Solutions, said the new CEO is what the company needs to reverse its slip profits and needs to develop a dyeing relationship with quality concerns and North American dealers.
“(Filosa) has a lot of experience from North and South America and is working with Jeep to work with all the important parts of the company,” Fiorani says. “In recent years, North America has not been strong in the radar that could have been for Stellarantis’ early years.”
Leaders who know the importance of Stellantis’ North American market will help the company do that after the last decade and the future,” Fiorani said.
It may not be easy, as Stellantis’ future begins under Filosa. Fiorani said the company has some tough decisions. It will need to soften the number of brands it offers, emphasize (or reduce) production in China, and take additional steps to create efficient production across the brand.
“These things are going to be long-term issues and won’t happen in the first few weeks,” Filani said. “But these are all points that need to be addressed as this is a global company.”
Subsequent Tavares
Filosa has replaced Carlos Tavares, the first CEO of Stellantis, who resigned in 2024. During his tenure in abbreviations, Tavares maintained a tense relationship with both American dealers and UAW.
Through a series of complaints filed and withdrawn, the UAW claims that Stellantis has not reached the number and investments of staffing promised in the 2023 negotiation agreement that was struck between the company and the union.
At the same time, dealers at Stellantis in the US took the extraordinary step of writing public letters criticizing the company’s operations. Calling Tavares’ leadership “reckless, short-term decision-making,” dealers cheated the company by putting the distinctive American brands of Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram at risk.
“Reckless, short-term decisions to secure record profits in 2023 have been catastrophic yet completely predictable results in the US market,” the letter reads.
Under Filosa, Stellantis wants to reverse these results.
Liam Rappleye covers Stellantis and UAW from Detroit Free Press. Please contact Liam Rappleye: lrappleye@freepress.com
This is a developing story and will be updated.
