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The new chief executive of Stellantis Antonio Filosa “learned at the knee” of Sergio Marchionne, the legendary automotive leader who saved Italy’s Fiat from bankruptcy during the mid-2000s.
The 51-year-old protégé will need those teachings more than ever as he seeks to revive the fortunes of the world’s fourth-largest carmaker navigating Donald Trump’s trade war and the industry’s shift to electric vehicles.
The Naples native inherits a sprawling group of 14 brands — which was formed in 2021 from the merger of France’s PSA and Italy’s Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. The company suffered a 70 per cent drop in net profit last year, burned through €6bn in cash and is yet to rebuild its position in the US, its most profitable market.
“As Mr Sergio Marchionne would say: ‘Mediocrity is not worth the trip.’ Let’s win this one together!,” Filosa wrote on social media hours after being named CEO.
Filosa was chosen from several internal and external candidates following a six-month search that began after his predecessor Carlos Tavares abruptly resigned in December on the back of declining sales and profits.
Appointed by Tavares to oversee the group’s operations in North America in October, the former head of the Jeep brand was given additional responsibilities to manage the larger Americas region.
During the interim period led by chair John Elkann, Filosa also took on the role of chief quality officer while also becoming heavily involved in tariff negotiations with the Trump administration as the board tested his leadership capabilities.
“He has shown that he could do it,” one person close to Filosa said. He has learned from Marchionne that “to run the company properly, you need to be close to your people and you need to be on the ground”.
People close to the company say Filosa will continue efforts started by Elkann to repair strained relations between the carmaker under Tavares and governments in Italy and France as well as dealers, suppliers and unions.
In a memo to employees on Wednesday, Filosa also said he would focus on further strengthening “the bonds and trust we have with our partners”.
Those who have worked with him describe a man who is focused and energetic. A longtime water polo player, Filosa celebrated his 50th birthday by swimming across the Strait of Messina between Sicily and Calabria, known for its strong currents.
“He’s not a soft guy by any stretch,” said another person who has worked closely with Filosa. “He can be tough as nails.”
Filosa joined Fiat in 1999 and rose through the ranks from a paint shop quality supervisor at a plant in Spain. He is best known for his roles in Latin America, a key region that maintains high profitability despite the group’s struggles in the US and Europe.
The auto executive brings a deep understanding of the US market but Bernstein analysts warned that “there is a lot that still needs to be done” to rebuild trust with the company’s dealers.
Tom Narayan, analyst at RBC Capital Markets, said pricing of the group’s vehicles in the US also remained “far above historical levels”.
He added: “With the US tariff situation a key concern near term, we could envision a scenario where the new management team resets expectations lower.” The company last month withdrew its guidance for the year citing tariff uncertainty.
The board led by Elkann also looked at strong industry candidates such as Hyundai’s global chief executive José Muñoz and Mike Manley, the former Jeep boss and now the CEO of car retailer AutoNation, as well as a non-auto industry executive.
It concluded that a strong internal candidate was better suited to tackle the challenging industry environment than an outsider who could be too disruptive during a period of deep uncertainty, according to one person close to the process.
“Antonio is a proven leader who brings a hands-on approach to his work, and he believes strongly in the power of collaboration and teamwork,” Elkann wrote in a memo to employees.
The Peugeot family group, Stellantis’s second-largest shareholder through its investment vehicle Peugeot 1810, also praised Filosa’s “close familiarity with Stellantis’s industrial culture”.
The appointment of an Italian to the head of Stellantis was welcomed by the country’s industry minister Adolfo Urso, as an “excellent choice”.
In France, Filosa’s first destination for his visits across the company’s sites following his appointment, the CFE-CGC union said in a statement that it expected the new Stellantis boss to “break with the authoritarian, cost-cutting management style of the Tavares era”.
Filosa, who is married with two children and based in Detroit, will need to split his time between the US and Europe, while also travelling to Latin America and other markets. But travelling to plants across the world has been a signature part of his career.
“He has always been on the move,” said a person who worked with Filosa in Latin America.
