Running a transatlantic empire is a lot like spinning plates on unicycles. Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa is currently trying to keep half a dozen brands from crashing down. His newest obsession is quality control.
Ford comfortably sit on the throne of NHTSA recalls, logging a staggering 78 recall campaigns this year alone. Stellantis isn’t content holding second place with its own 35 recalls. Enter Filosa’s latest strategy under the FaSTLAne 2030 turnaround plan. Setting up nearly 50 dedicated “quality war rooms” to wage a tactical assault on loose trim, glitchy screens, and questionable engineering.
The urgency isn’t unwarranted. The latest JD Power Initial Quality Study (IQS) painted a bleak picture for Auburn Hills. Against an industry average of 175 problems per 100 vehicles, Jeep stumbled with 182 problems, landing behind 15 rival brands. Ram fared even worse, languishing near the rock bottom of the rankings with an embarrassing 222 problems per 100 trucks.
To combat the chaos, Stellantis hired over 2,000 engineers to staff these corporate war rooms. It birngs together manufacturing experts and supplier reps to fix troublesome components. Filosa boldly claims that by 2028, Stellantis will reach first-quartile quality standing across all segments.
Oddly enough, this massive push for perfection is happening right alongside the company’s Value Creation Program, which aims to slash $7 billion in operational costs by 2028.
Curiously, American truck buyers seem entirely unbothered by these quality woes. Despite Jeep sales dropping 20% in Q3 to 128,542 units, Ram went on a tear. Sales jumped 29% in Q3 to 134,072 trucks and 20% YTD to 369,379 units, propelling overall Stellantis US sales up 3% to 958,463 vehicles through September.
Apparently, when you ramp up production of the beloved Hemi V8 and slap $5,500 incentives on Chrysler Pacifica minivans customers will gladly forgive a few build quality quirks.
