Antonio Filosa has addressed Stellantis employees in an internal message following the group’s first-quarter 2026 results, which showed growth in both the United States and Canada along with encouraging signs in Europe. The tone of the communication feels noticeably different from the one seen in previous months. Filosa appears to view the recovery in sales as the first real sign that a strategy built around customer focus is beginning to produce measurable results, especially in the market that had exposed Stellantis’ deepest weaknesses in recent years.
Antonio Filosa sees early signs of a turnaround at Stellantis after first-quarter gains
In the United States, sales rose 4 percent year over year. That figure carries weight not only from a commercial standpoint but also from a symbolic one, because it comes after a particularly difficult stretch that defined the group’s previous management phase.
Models such as the Jeep Wrangler and Chrysler Pacifica continue to serve as key reference points in their respective segments, helping give Stellantis’ North American business more stability. For Filosa, however, the positive quarter does not mark an endpoint. Instead, it marks the beginning of a phase that will need support from three core factors, stronger volume growth, better industrial execution, and improved overall profitability.
Canada also strengthened the quarterly picture with a 15 percent increase, even though several questions remain open around investments and EV programs in the country. Those questions include the possible future conversion of the Windsor plant, which could eventually take on a new role linked in part to models from Stellantis partner Leapmotor.
In Mexico, Stellantis closed the quarter with a 19 percent increase. Ram and Peugeot posted the best first quarter in their history in the country, rising 56 percent and 14 percent respectively. Those numbers confirm a meaningful strengthening in a region that now plays a central role in the group’s balance.
Europe also delivered encouraging signs. Stellantis posted double-digit growth in Italy, driven above all by Fiat and Leapmotor. Even so, the most important battleground for the group’s future remains North America. The real test of Filosa’s turnaround will play out in the U.S. and Canadian markets, and many of the industrial balances in Europe, including the production outlook for Stellantis’ Italian plants, will also depend on the decisions the group makes there.
